Image of CFO Oppenheimer and CEO Cook
According to a report from Reuters, Apple is apparently under investigation in Italy related to unpaid taxes on more than $1.34 billion. The report quotes a “a judicial source with direct knowledge of the matter” and noted that the investigation is currently underway with authorities in Milan.
Milan prosecutors say Apple failed to declare to Italian tax authorities 206 million euros in 2010 and 853 million euros in 2011, one of the sources said, confirming a report by Italian magazine L’Espresso.
“The Apple investigation is under way,” the judicial source said on Wednesday, without giving details.
Reuters notes that Italian authorities in June handed down prison sentences and hundreds of million in fines for unpaid taxes to fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
The news follows testimonies from Apple executives on the company’s tax practices at U.S. Senate hearing earlier this year (pictured above) and a four-month long investigation into Apple’s tax affairs by the SEC. It’s also recently run into accusations of tax avoidance in France for unpaid copie privée royalties on iPad sales.
Last year Apple was fined over $1 million by Italian authorities for misleading consumers with its warranty policies.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Italy is likely just staving for money. They’ve done a lot of anti Apple stuff lately (regarding Apple Care)
Our situation in the last 20 years has been terrible because we hadn’t really tried to rescue unpaid taxes.
That happened because italian people DON WANT TO pay taxes, Berlusconi don’t pay taxes and told people not to pay taxes.
Now we’re forced by EU to do this and finally something is moving in that direction. I love Apple but I like this piece of news.
Apple Care is another thing: we used to have a 2 year warranty for every product except for Apple products, because Apple wasn’t clear enough with customers. After the first year, lots of customers found their product were out of warranty and finally Apple decided to make things clear.
Apart from that YES, we need money
Italy is not the only one that complained about Apple Care as “EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding wrote to member countries”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-01/apple-warranty-ads-should-be-examined-by-eu-states-reding-says.html
That happend following Italian case, a reaction chain. Countries claim for money.
@hmurchison: you are totally right! We’re definitely starving for money. Our government tried (and is still trying) to get as much as they can from us. Now it’s time for the companies. Here there’s only one rule: pay.
An italian ashamed to be italian.
Andrea. The Worldwide economy is pretty much stagnant. If Italy thinks Apple owes them money then they have every right to go after it. At least Italy isn’t spying on the world.
I feel the same way, Andrea
God..
The headline for this article is quite misleading. There is not 1.34B in unpaid taxes. It is 1.34B ‘hidden from the taxman’. There’s a big difference.
Well it looks like finally paying taxes will be due for everyone here in Italy, as it’s not been like that for way too long. Furthermore, Apple, Google, Facebook, etc pay very little taxes because tax policies on tech companies are quite loose. Still they have a rather good revenue, why shouldn’t they pay a fair amount of taxes?
If it’s billionaire companies having to pay lots of taxes, it’s not bad for they have great revenues; those who are really endangered by taxes are the poor, and they are becoming more and more…
That’s my thought from Verdi’s land, bye!
Davide you are totally right , but you can bet that the cost of the taxes they will be forced to pay will be completely repassed to us embedded in their next products.
That what would be a suicide for Apple I think, but you might be right after all… At the moment though prices have gone down! Up until earlier this year a price of 399$ in the US (for example) would have been of 399€ here; now Apple does modify the price minding exchange rates. It should be an obvious thing, but it has never been like that for Apple (up to now).