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Tim Cook: 'Apple could unlock iPhones, but won't'
To celebrate both Tim Cook's fifth year at the helm of Apple and the production of the billionth iPhone, the chief has sat down with the Washington Post. It's very much a goodwill piece, although there are a few insights into both Cook and Apple that the CEO lets slip along the way. For instance, on the subject of the San Bernardino iPhone, the company did spend a long time working out if they could unlock it. After deciding that it was possible, but that it'd be extremely difficult to stop the exploit being shared, Cook refused to do it. As he explains, "the risk of what happens if it got out, we felt, could be incredibly terrible for public safety."
IRS sues Facebook to expose its creative accounting methods
The IRS filed suit in a San Francisco court Wednesday against Facebook to get information about the tech titan's tax arrangement in Ireland. Specifically, the agency wants documents detailing whether the social giant sold rights to its Irish subsidiaries cheaply in order to avoid paying the US' comparatively higher taxes.
Google's Spanish offices raided in tax investigation
Google is no stranger to tax investigations, but in recent months, European investigators have taken things up a notch. Coming just a month after tax inspectors raided the company's French HQ, Spanish officials today cast the spotlight on its operations in Madrid as part of an ongoing probe into its tax contributions.
Google won't get a deal on French taxes
If Google was hoping that France would give it a UK-style tax break, it's going to be in for a rude surprise. The country's Finance Minister Michel Sapin informs Reuters that there won't be any negotiations with Google over the €1.6 billion in back taxes (roughly $1.76 billion) the company reportedly owes. The French "don't do deals," Sapin says. He adds that the recent raid on Google's Paris office over alleged tax fraud was really just the next step for investigations that started a few years ago.
Google's Paris HQ raided by French tax authorities
French authorities have raided Google's Paris headquarters as part of an ongoing investigation into the company's tax affairs in the country. In February, reports claimed the government believed Google owed 1.6-billion Euros ($1.2-billion) in back taxes. According to The Guardian, investigators were on the scene at Google's Paris headquarter at around 5am this morning, with the raid involving up to 100 investigators, reports in Le Parisien.
The road to Panama: A history of whistleblowers and hacks
Yesterday, a coalition of journalists across the world launched the Panama Papers, a project to uncover the dirty secrets of the rich and powerful. An anonymous source provided reporters at the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung with a 2.6TB dump of files from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents reveal a web of private, secretly-held offshore companies that can be used to hide a fortune or avoid paying tax. For instance, The Guardian accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of hiding $2 billion in offshore companies that are "owned" by a close friend. It has taken anywhere up to a year for a team to scour the data to find some dirty secrets, and far more are likely to emerge as the files are analyzed. This didn't happen in isolation, however. It's just the latest in a long line of leaks and breaches that have put what some would prefer remain secret in the spotlight. Check out the timeline above to look at some of the most notable ones of the last few years.
Facebook changes how it pays tax in the UK
Facebook has announced that starting this April, it'll radically simplify its business arrangements in the UK. Boor-ing, right? Except this means that the social network's tax dealings will now be much more transparent. It's a big deal because, until now, the company has been accused of avoiding paying its fair share. After all, in 2014 it paid less than $7,000 despite the UK being its biggest overseas market. It somehow managed to pay a rate of just four percent on its operations, despite the going rate for businesses being 20 percent, so you can see why people were angry.
Last year's IRS cyber attack may have accessed 700,000 accounts
The Internal Revenue Service already increased the total number of accounts accessed in last year's cyber attack once. Today, it's raising the number gain. The IRS announced that during a 9-month review of the incident, it discovered that an additional 390,000 taxpayer accounts were potentially accessed during the breach. Those accounts are in addition to the confirmed access of and initial 114,000 last May and the subsequent 220,000 that were added in August. For those keeping track at home, today's announcement brings the total to over 700,000 affected tax payers.
IRS says identity thieves nabbed 100,000 income tax e-file PINs
Tax season is a busy time for the Internal Revenue Service, and identity thieves are only making it worse. The IRS confirmed that hackers used stolen social security numbers automated malware to generate over 100,000 e-file (electronic filing) PINs before the department but the clamps on the attack last week. Thieves were actually after 464,000 of the numbers, but were stopped about a quarter of the way through.
Obama proposes oil tax to fund clean transportation
President Obama has proposed a $10 per-barrel tax on oil to fund cleaner mass transit and cleaner vehicle research. The plan, laid out in a fact sheet, is a "smart, strategic integrated investments to help reduce carbon pollution, strengthen economy" according to the White House.
America is angry about Europe's tax investigations
An eyeliner-clad official from the US treasury has traveled to Brussels to scream leave Google alone! at their European counterparts. International tax chief Robert Stack has accused the European Union of unfairly targeting American tech companies in its recent clampdown on tax avoidance. The continent has begun investigating "sweetheart" deals between firms like Facebook and Apple after it was revealed how little tax they actually pay. Stack, however, feels that he's got to go to bat for the homegrown champions, and that the money Europe is going after isn't theirs to claim.
Google will pay the UK $185 million in back taxes
Like other tech giants, Google has been accused of using legal loopholes to avoid paying many of the taxes it owes... and it's now tackling some of those claims head-on. Its parent company Alphabet has reached a deal with the UK to pay £130 million (about $185 million) in back taxes going as far as 2005. The settlement reflects a new, more direct approach that bases its payout on revenue from UK-based advertisers. In short, its taxes will reflect the actual size of its UK business -- logical, isn't it?
Apple fined $347 million for Italian tax... irregularities
Apple's Italian subsidiary has reportedly been slapped with a €318 million ($347 million) bill for failing to pay tax in the country. According to the BBC and La Repubblica, authorities found disparities between the amount of money it brought in and the amount it handed over between 2008 and 2013. In that five-year period, it's believed that the firm paid just €30 million ($33 million), significantly less than the €880 million ($961 million) it's believed to have owed.
This year's IRS breach is way bigger than the agency initially thought
Back in May, the Internal Revenue Service said thieves nabbed info for 100,000 people through its transcript website. Today the agency increased that number by an additional 200,000 folks, bringing the total number of potential cases to 334,000. Using a "Get Transcript" tool to access tax returns from previous years -- a vulnerability that the government knew about -- hackers were able to use personal details on 610,000 taxpayers to retrieve tax-related info on the over 300,000 accounts. Most likely, the culprits were looking to eventually claim refunds with the stolen goods. The IRS says it's "moving aggressively" to keep those who are affected or potentially at risk safe, and it's sending out letters to inform individuals if their information was accessed. This isn't the only tax-related incident facing the US government this year either, as 800,000 people received bad tax info through Healthcare.gov in February. [Image credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images]
UK plots crackdown on digital tax dodgers
The government probably has enough info on us to know what we had for breakfast this morning, but the taxman doesn't really care what fruit you liven up your porridge with. HMRC is interested in getting every last penny it's owed, however, especially money tied up in the UK's digitally driven, "hidden economy." HMRC estimates that it lost out on almost £6 billion in the 2012/13 tax year thanks to undeclared earnings from businesses operating on digital platforms like eBay and Airbnb. Thus, it's proposing changes to legislation that would extend its data-gathering powers to identify who's responsible for the shortfall, and where it's stashed.
Chicago kicks in 'cloud tax' on streaming services like Netflix
Citizens of Chicago need to prepare themselves for a "cloud tax" that went into effect on July 1. The nine-percent tax to cloud services like Netflix, Spotify and Xbox Live is the result of an "amusement tax" ruling that items "delivered electronically" for entertainment purposes are subject to a tax that has traditionally been levied against the sale of concert tickets, sporting events and the like. The ruling does not affect the sales of movies, songs and games delivered electronically. So purchases from the iTunes store and Steam are not taxed. But, a subscription to Apple Music or Spotify is subject to taxation. If your streaming entertainment service of choice hasn't already started charging, you may have a few months before your bill goes up. The ruling gives companies until September 1, 2015 to comply. [Image credit: Getty/wsfurlan]
Thieves steal tax data for 100,000 from an IRS website
You might need to keep a closer eye than usual on your tax-related info. The Internal Revenue Service is warning that intruders stole tax data for 100,000 people between February and May by taking advantage of a flaw in the agency's transcript website. The evildoers successfully circumvented a security check that asks for static info like your Social Security number and tax filing status. The IRS is temporarily shutting down transcripts and says that its main servers are safe, but this could lead to the culprits filing for bogus tax refunds and getting victims in trouble.
Amazon finally starts paying proper taxes in European countries
For many years, Amazon has sent a huge percentage of its European revenues over to Luxembourg. The tiny country levies a much smaller rate of tax than most of the countries in which the retailer operates, allowing it to keep a larger share of sales. With the European Commission breathing down its neck over claims it had agreed an illegal tax deal with Luxembourg, Amazon has quietly begun booking sales in some of its biggest European markets. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company began paying direct taxes on sales in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain from May 1st.
Airbnb to collect taxes in more big cities
Airbnb's been struggling with numerous legal issues for a while now, and one of the biggest complaints against the service is that hosts have been using it to set up illegal hotels to avoid paying taxes. These days, Airbnb's trying to get on the good side of the law, so after getting rid of sketchy listings (in NYC, at least), it's now collecting tourist taxes in more locations. The service has been doing just that in San Francisco and Portland, Oregon since last year, but now the list of locations has grown to include San Jose, California and Amsterdam in the Netherlands (starting this week, as well as Washington and Chicago starting on February 15.
Euro Star Citizen fans getting local support, VAT
Are you a Star Citizen fan based in Europe? If so I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that Cloud Imperium is opening a "publishing arm" in the UK and thus will provide local customer support. The bad news is that Euro customers will be subject to the VAT beginning on February 1st. "We wish there were an alternative to charging the tax, but also believe that it is in our best interest to expand Star Citizen's footprint to a part of the world that has proven to be truly passionate about space games," CIG explains on its website.