Re:A Message to the Apple Community in Europe
by vr46 on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @09:46AM
(#12390020)
It is not as though Apple knocked on the door and were welcomed in with tea and cake. This deal (these deals?) were the result of much planning and lobbying by Apple.
And you're right, it's not a punishment, just asking them to pay what was owed. If you owe the taxman £20000, it's a big problem for you. If you owe the taxman £13,000,000,000, then it's definitely a problem for the taxman :)
Re:A Message to the Apple Community in Europe
by pluma on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @11:02AM
(#12390751)
As a concrete example: German celebrity and football manager Hoeneß was found to have withheld about € 30 million in taxes. He was charged with tax evasion and punished with a prison sentence of 5 years and six months but no additional fine.
He did eventually pay back the entire amount (plus interest) but he was released from prison after having spent only roughly half his sentence (which actually didn't confine him to prison for his entire "stay" anyway).
IMO they should be able to sue the agency (or agency's employees) that supposedly granted them the tax benefits for damages because they misrepresented the actual tax situation, but they still owe the unpaid taxes and have to pay them back.
Not knowing the law doesn't protect you from breaking it. In this case, they're not even being punished -- the $$ owed aren't a fine, just the taxes (and interest) they should have paid to begin with.
This is similar to buying stolen goods: sure, you may not actually have known they were stolen, so you might not be directly punished, but you still don't legally own the goods (even though you paid for them) so they will be confiscated and returned to their rightful owners. You can sue the seller for damages, but the state is under no obligation to reimburse you for handing over "your property" (because it isn't).