Apple to Pay $571 million in Back-Taxes to France

• Apple has completed a tax payment agreement with France after a multi-year audit conducted against the tech giant.
• The company will have to pay 500 million euros in back-taxes according to reports.
• Apple was caught exploiting tax loopholes which led to the company’s French division being audited.

French authorities found Apple guilty of finding loopholes in tax regulations in the country which has forced the tech giant to clear its back-taxes. Apple will have to pay 500 million euros ($571 million) according to reports to clear its backlog in taxes. The amount was decided after French authorities conducted a multi-year audit against the company.

Apple France revealed that the full details of the audit would be published in the company’s public accounts soon. French President Emmanuel Macron has been heading the tax crackdown on a number of companies that exploit tax loopholes, which hurt the business of other European businesses. Macron is working towards a new unified corporate tax that will apply to nineteen euro states in the country. French authorities and Apple came to the tax payment agreement in December.

CEO Tim Cook and French President Emmanuel Macron met in October to work out a solution about the tech giant’s pending payments. It was reported that the solution would be worked out by the European Union and not France at the time.

French tax activist groups have accused Apple in the past of wide-scale tax evasion and its practices. The company had sued activist group “Attac” in return for its protest in the company’s stores but. Even though an injunction was filed to keep the protesters away, the Parisian High Court denied the company’s demands.

Apple has not only evaded taxes in France but also in other countries. The company was facing legal charges from the European Union, and it had to pay its $15.4 billion Irish tax bill including interest of $1.4 billion to the EU which led to the lawsuit being lifted.

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