Apple’s main Irish subsidiary paid €7.7bn (£6.8bn ) in corporation tax last year, but paid out nearly triple that amount in dividends to its California parent company, after reporting more than $69bn (£56bn) in profits.
The latest financial filings for the subsidiary, which is facing legal challenges over its tax arrangements in Ireland, show the Irish division made the equivalent of nearly $190m a day over the year to September.
The iPhone maker’s Cork-based Apple Operations International – which is the umbrella firm for most of Apple’s subsidiaries outside the US – said yearly revenues rose by $11.7bn to $223bn alongside the 2% rise in profits.
The company paid €7.7bn in corporation tax for the financial year. Over the period it paid dividends worth $20.7bn to Apple Inc. Its account state that the dividends are fully subject to US taxes.
However, it is not clear which governments received those taxes, which amount to 11% of profits. Ireland charges a 12.5% corporation tax rate, which would have resulted in a bill worth $8.7bn.
Including deferred tax charges, Apple Operations International paid a total tax bill of $11bn for the period.
Apple has faced controversy over its tax arrangements in Ireland, where it has had a presence since 1980. Apple Operations International and its subsidiaries employ about 56,600 staff, of whom 6,000 are based in Ireland.
In 2020, the European Commission ordered the iPhone maker to pay a record-breaking €13bn (£11.5bn) in back taxes to Ireland, saying it had benefited from a sweetheart tax deal that amounted to illegal state aid between 2003 and 2014. The commission said the deal allowed Apple to pay a maximum tax rate of just 1% – and as low as 0.005% in 2014.
Apple challenged the order, which was part of the EU’s efforts to crack down on tax avoidance. A Luxembourg court later ruled that the commission failed to prove that Apple had benefited from the allegedly illegal arrangement, and said Apple did not need to pay back-taxes to the Irish government.
The European Commission is still in the process of appealing against the EU court’s ruling. A spokesperson for Apple declined to comment.
