Apple more than doubles its Australian tax contribution

Apple’s Australian net profit after tax for the 2014 financial year increased, despite the company paying more tax.

In documents filed to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Cupertino-based tech giant reported that net profit after tax for the group during the 2014 financial year was AU$171.5 million, a 69 percent increase from the AU$52.1 million net profit after tax reported during the 2013 financial year.

This is despite the company paying more than double in income tax for the year. During 2013, Apple had only paid AU$36.4 million compared to 2014, when income tax was AU$80.3 million.

This is an improvement from Apple’s tax contribution in 2012, when it had decreased to AU$40 million from AU$94.7 million in 2011.

Apple is currently one of several tech companies that are under investigation as part of an inquiry into corporate tax avoidance. The inquiry, which is being carried out by the Senate Economic References Committee, is looking into “tax avoidance and aggressive minimisation by corporations registered in Australia and multinational corporations operating in Australia”. The report will be provided by the first sitting day in June 2015.

The Australian government has previously called out Apple as one of many multinational companies for using the so-called “Double Irish Dutch Sandwich” method by funnelling money through lower-taxation countries, such as Ireland, in order to pay very low taxes domestically. However, Ireland has committed to phasing out its corporate loophole by 2020.

Recently, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey labelled companies such as Apple as “thieves”, and said a global effort is required to combat companies evading tax.

As a result of the increased tax payments, Apple reported that revenue for the year decreased by 0.5 percent to AU$6 billion from the AU$6.1 billion recorded in 2013.

A majority of the company’s revenue continued to comprise of sales of goods, although this decreased to AU$5.86 million during 2014 from the AU$5.91 million recorded in 2013.

During the year, Apple released its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, of which the company said it sold 10 million during the first weekend of the devices’ release.

The company also listed that net unrealised foreign exchange gained AU$106.3 million in 2014, compared to the AU$43.9 million loss in 2013.