Noonan rejects special Apple tax deal claim

The Government has hotly rejected claims of a special tax deal between this country and Apple with Minister for Finance Michael Noonan saying Ireland will not become the "whipping boy" for misunderstandings in the US Senate.

Mr Noonan also warned TDs not to jeopardise jobs in their constituencies by joining in unwarranted criticism of Ireland’s tax regime.

Speaking at the Oireachtas finance committee last evening the Minister defended the tax treatment of multinational companies such as Apple, insisting that Ireland was a "transparent, tax compliant country".

Mr Noonan said Apple paid 12.5 per cent on all the profits the company made in Ireland, “and that’s the only liability they have in Ireland”.

Criticism
He warned TDs and Senators: "We would want to be very careful that we don't join in to this claque of criticism when in actual fact the Irish taxation system is totally transparent."

Mr Noonan said no arrangement was made between the Revenue Commissioners and multinationals operating in Ireland. On profits that were liable to tax in Ireland, the 12.5 per cent rate was universal.

The principal Apple companies concerned that were registered in Cork were neither tax resident in the US nor tax resident in Ireland, and “because they are not tax resident in Ireland they’re not liable to Irish tax”.

Responding to questions from Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath and People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett he said: “I don’t want to be the whipping boy for some misunderstanding in a hearing in the US Congress . . . we do not want to be the whipping boy for misunderstandings.”

Profits
He said that a lot of profits by multinational companies were not subject to Irish taxation. "We can't tax their profits worldwide."

Meanwhile in Brussels, Taoiseach Enda Kenny was forced to defend Ireland's corporate tax regime, following a meeting of EU leaders yesterday at which countries pledged to fight tax evasion and aggressive tax planning.

Speaking after the summit, Mr Kenny said he disagreed with claims by Apple chief executive Tim Cook that the company had negotiated a special 2 per cent corporate tax rate with the Irish Government.