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China Fines Apple For Being Late to Pay $71 Million in Taxes

Debt already repaid, with interest, along with penalty

Apple’s Chinese subsidiary underpaid RMB 452 million ($71 million) in taxes in 2013, according to the country’s Finance Ministry, which added Apple has since paid up but was fined RMB 65 million for being late.

The report also claims the subsidiary under-reported RMB 8.8 billion in revenue, and RMB 3.4 billion in costs, while over-reporting RMB 5.4 billion in profits.

“During an audit of our 2013 operations, a difference in interpretation of a tax rule resulted in a balance due, which we paid with interest,” an Apple spokesman said. “We pay all the taxes we owe wherever we do business.”

Shi Zhengwen, deputy president of China Association for Fiscal and Tax Law, and director of the Center for Research in Fiscal and Tax Law of the China University of Political Science and Law, said the fact that many big enterprises intentionally underpay tax is due to slack law enforcement.

Last December, Beijing announced it would be cracking down on foreign companies that underpay their taxes.

Charles Liu

The Nanfang's Senior Editor