An Irish Apple executive has avoided a jail sentence in Italy after the tech giant agreed to pay a settlement of 45,000 euros for unpaid taxes in the European country.
A Milan judge accepted a settlement agreement with Apple Sales International, the company’s Irish-based unit, as part of a probe into the allegations that the American tech giant failed or refused to pay corporate taxes of 879 million euros, a report for Reuters detailed.
The executive in question, Michael O’Sullivan, who has been working for Apple for 25 years and is in charge of filing of some of the company’s international tax returns, avoided a potential six-month prison sentence in Italy.
“Michael O’Sullivan has worked for Apple for over 25 years and has always operated with the highest integrity,” said an Apple spokesman. “He is a valued member of our finance team and his responsibilities include oversight of the team filing some of our international tax returns and other regulatory requirements since 1999.”
In Italian law, a settlement agreement does not imply an admission of guilt. Milan prosecutors investigating the allegations have asked for the case against two managers from the Italian subsidiary of Apple to be dropped.
“Apple has always complied with the instructions we received from the Italian tax authorities and during a tax audit in 2012 the authorities again confirmed we were filing our local tax returns correctly,” said an Apple spokesperson. “In 2015 the tax authority contradicted its guidance and said they now believed Apple had not filed its returns from the correct entity. When the authorities changed their view we complied.”
