Apple's Australian tax bill has been revealed, and while it is double than what the company paid in the previous financial year, it is still a fraction of its total revenue.
In 2014 Apple paid $80.3 million, despite the company earning more than $6 billion in local revenue.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported this morning that accounts filed with the corporate regulator show the jump in tax paid compared to the previous year. In 2013 Apple paid $36.4 million.
One reason for the jump in tax paid could be the valuation of the Australian dollar falling considerably against the American dollar.
In a column for AdNews last year a business columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald, Michael West, explained that 2015 would bring greater scrutiny for tax avoidance by technology giants and other multinationals.
“Executives from Google and Apple will be called to appear before a parliamentary inquiry into corporate tax avoidance, which will draw unprecedented scrutiny of their aggressive tax schemes and their advisers from the big four global accounting firms,” he wrote.
“While media pressure will increase in 2015 on government and its agencies for greater disclosure and transparency, powerful vested interests will be lobbying hard behind the scenes to reduce disclosure and compliance from its already pitiful levels. Although public recognition of the scourge of multinational tax avoidance, particularly in the media and technology sectors, is at all-time highs, so, unfortunately, is the campaign to hide things from the public and the tax office.”
Apple's tax figures were released as the technology giant announced its financial results for the first quarter of the 2015 financial year.
The company announced a global record quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion and record quarterly net profit of $18 billion. These results compare to revenue of $57.6 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion for the same quarter a year ago.
International sales accounted for 65% of the quarter’s revenue.
In the announcement Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said: “We’d like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high.”
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