Apple Agrees Deal with France to Pay $571 million in Back-Taxes

Apple has reached a deal with French authorities to cover an amount of tax. Apple’s French division confirmed the tax payment arrangement to Reuters but didn’t disclose how much it had agreed to cover, although French media suggest the sum is approximately 500 million euros ($571 million). “As a multinational company, Apple is regularly audited by fiscal authorities around the globe,” Apple France said in a statement. “The French tax administration lately concluded an audit on the company’s French reports, and those details will be published in our public accounts.” 

France has been working to prevent tech companies like Apple from exploiting tax loopholes. The loopholes are believed to have enabled Apple to “minimize taxes and grab market share” at the expense of Europe-based businesses. French President Emmanuel Macron is among the leaders behind the tax crackdown on technology companies that are international, with a goal of bringing a unified corporate taxation system across the nineteen-euro field nations. 

Apple has had difficulty with tax activist groups inhabiting its own Parisian retail stores and accusing the business of wide-scale tax evasion. In February 2018, Apple resisted the activist group “Attac” because of its protests in shops, however, the High Court of Paris denied Apple’s request for an injunction that would have blocked the group from protesting.