Apple increases profit, still pays zero tax in NZ

Local demand for Apples products keeps growing, but the taxman's haul remains zero. Photo/Wikimedia Commons.

Documents filed wih the Companies Office show Apple has increased its pre-tax profit from $9.5 million to $29.7 million.

The company's overall revenue shot up from $744 million in 2016 to $811 million in 2017.

Despite this increase in revenue, the local tax authority has not received a bump in payment from the consumer electronics company.

A report by the Herald in early 2017 revealed Apple paid no income tax to Inland Revenue over the past decade despite selling billions of dollars worth of iPhones and iPads to New Zealanders.

• Read the full Herald report on Apple's tax contribution here.

While the latest statement shows Apple paid $10 million in income tax, it's understood that this was again paid to the Australian tax office.

The Australian company tax rate for businesses earning over $10 million is 30 percent, and this corresponds with the amount of tax Apple reported in its financial statements.

In a statement issued from Australia in March last year, the multinational technology giant stressed it followed the law but did not directly address questions about the structuring of its New Zealand operations and the apparent lack of payments to Inland Revenue.

"Apple aims to be a force for good and we're proud of the contributions we've made in New Zealand over the past decade. Because our products and services are created, designed and engineered in the US, that's where the vast majority of our tax is paid," the spokesperson said.

While the tax policy doesn't break the law, senior lecturer at Massey University Deborah Russell questioned the company's tax contribution last year.

"They're operating completely legally: it's just that age-old distinction between legality and morality," she said at the time.

The government is taking steps in response to big multi-nationals side-stepping tax in the local market.

At the end of last year, The Taxation (Neutralising Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Bill passed its first reading in Parliament.

The new law would adopt a number of measures developed to stifle the ability of large global firms to use base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) strategies to reduce their tax bill.

It is part of a global push being championed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD has estimated global losses through tax avoidance amount to US$240 billion (NZ$345b) a year.