欧盟裁定苹果补缴130亿欧税款
Apple ordered to pay �13bn after EU rules Ireland broke state aid laws
Apple has warned that future investment by multinationals in Europe could be hit after it was ordered to pay a record-breaking �13bn (£11bn) in back taxes to Ireland.
欧盟要求苹果公司向爱尔兰政府补缴破纪录的130亿欧元（110亿英镑）税款.苹果警告称跨国公司未来在欧洲的投资或遭受打击.
The world's largest company was presented with the huge bill after the European commission ruled that a sweetheart tax deal between Apple and the Irish tax authorities amounted to illegal state aid.
欧盟委员会裁定苹果公司与爱尔兰税务当局达成的税收优惠协定属非法国家援助后,这家全球最大的公司面临天价税单.
The commission said the deal allowed Apple to pay a maximum tax rate of just 1%. In 2014, the tech firm paid tax at just 0.005%. The usual rate of corporation tax in Ireland is 12.5%.
欧盟委员会称,该优惠协定使苹果公司的最高税率仅有1%.2014年,这家科技公司的税率仅为0.005%.而爱尔兰企业所得税的通常税率是12.5%.
"Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies – this is illegal under EU state aid rules," said the European competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, whose investigation of Apple's complex tax dealings has taken three years.
欧盟竞争事务专员玛格丽特•韦斯塔格表示："成员国不得向个别公司提供税收优惠——优惠协定违反了欧盟的国家援助规定."维斯塔格对苹果公司复杂税收交易的调查已进行了三年.
Vestager's ruling prompted an angry response from Apple and from Ireland and is likely to spark a political row between the US and the EU. The US Treasury said the ruling threatened to damage "the important spirit of economic partnership between the US and the EU".
维斯塔格的裁定激起苹果和爱尔兰的强烈不满,并可能引发美国与欧盟之间的政治争论.美国财政部称此裁定会危害"美国和欧盟之间重要的经济合作精神".
In a letter to customers, Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, claimed the ruling could deal a blow to big companies investing in Europe: "Beyond the obvious targeting of Apple, the most profound and harmful effect of this ruling will be on investment and job creation in Europe. Using the commission's theory, every company in Ireland and across Europe is suddenly at risk of being subjected to taxes under laws that never existed."
苹果首席执行官蒂姆•库克在致客户的信中称,该裁定会对投资欧洲的大型企业造成打击："这一裁定除明显针对苹果外,还将对欧洲的投资和就业产生深远的负面影响.按欧盟委员会的理论,爱尔兰和欧洲的任何一家公司突然都要根据从未存在的法律来缴纳税款了."
The commission said Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple between 1991 and 2015 had allowed the US company to attribute sales to a "head office" that only existed on paper and could not have generated such profits.
欧盟委员会表示,爱尔兰与苹果1991至2015年间的税收协议容许了苹果将销售额归入一家"总部"名下,而这一"总部"实际并不存在,也不能产生巨额利润.
The result was that Apple avoided tax on almost all the profit generated from its multi-billion euro sales of iPhones and other products across the EU's single market. It booked the profits in Ireland rather than the country in which the product was sold.
由此,苹果在欧盟单一市场销售亿万欧元的iPhone和其他产品,所得利润几乎都得以避税.公司将盈利计入爱尔兰的业务部门,而非产品的实际销售国.
