Apple Realizes It’s Not Safe To Leave Valuables Out

This week Apple learned that in a world of tightened government budgets and endless austerity, nothing is more tempting than a $215 billion cash pile just ripe for the taking. Following the European Commission’s ruling that Apple owed Ireland $14.5 billion in back taxes, the company decided to bring back to the US a large chunk of its foreign domiciled cash next year, acknowledging that it would have to pay a high tax rate on it. The company uses a complex structure that allows it to exploit tax law inconsistencies and pay a low tax rate on its profits, provided they never move the money back into the US. Apple tried holding off on repatriating the money until it could strike a deal with the US government to pay a lower tax rate. Eventually the lure of so much cash was too strong for the EU to resist and they made a grab for it instead. It sounds like Apple would rather pay taxes to Washington than Brussels. An accidental win for America?

Shady Read: How Apple Set Up Its ‘Double Irish’ Tax Structure