Apple Paid $6 Billion In Federal Corporate Income Taxes In Fiscal Year 2012

In a statement today, Apple has said that it is one of the top corporate income taxpayers in the U.S, having paid $6 billion in federal corporate income taxes in fiscal year 2012, reports The New York Times. The statement has been released as the congressional investigators are wrapping up an inquiry into the accounting practices of technology giants including Apple and Google.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations inquiry, that began over a year ago, asked the companies to explain methods they used to avoid domestic taxes. The subcommittee said that Apple had become a focus of the inquiry and was fully cooperating with the committee. Apple’s statement said that the company “conducted all of its business with the highest of ethical standards, complying with applicable laws and accounting rules.” 

“In its statement, Apple said it paid “an enormous amount of taxes” to local, state and federal governments. “In fiscal 2012 we paid $6 billion in federal corporate income taxes, which is 1 out of every 40 dollars in corporate income taxes collected by the U.S. government,” it said. In the 1980s, Apple was a pioneer of an accounting technique known as the “Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich,” which reduces taxes by routing profits through Irish subsidiaries and the Netherlands and then to the Caribbean. Today, that tactic is used by hundreds of other corporations.”

The subcommittee is also known to be looking at Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and firms in such fields as biotechnology.