Fast Company: At Last, Silicon Valley May Have Found a Trump Proposal to Like–Hist Tax Plan
media mentionApple, for one, would likely be happy about a one-time repatriation of earnings, depending on the details of the plan. In 2016, the European Union, after a lengthy investigation, ruled that Apple parking earnings at its Irish subsidiaries (to avoid paying U.S. taxes) amounts to the tech giant receiving “illegal state aid” from Ireland. As a result, Apple may be required to pay around $14.5 billion in back taxes dating back to 2004. Apple has appealed the decision, and Ireland has so far refused to collect the back taxes from Apple.
Apple would be one of many companies to bring money back, says Matt Gardner, the director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (the research umbrella for Citizens for Tax Justice) in an email to Fast Company. “Any company with substantial offshore cash will be thrilled to have the opportunity to pay a super low tax rate on this cash, and will likely be equally happy that a territorial system will give them an even lower tax rate (that is to say, zero) on profits they shift into tax havens going forward,” he writes.