Tech

Apple has reportedly reached a deal with France over paying back taxes

Key Points
  • Apple agreed to pay $571 million to French authorities to settle a back-dated tax, French media reported on Tuesday.
  • "The French tax administration recently concluded a multi-year audit on the company's French accounts, and those details will be published in our public accounts," Apple said in a statement to Reuters.
The Apple logo is seen on the window at an Apple Store on January 7, 2019 in Beijing, China.
Kevin Frayer | Getty Images

Apple agreed to pay $571 million to French authorities to settle a back-dated tax, French media reported on Tuesday.

"As a multinational company, Apple is regularly audited by fiscal authorities around the world," Apple France said in a statement to Reuters. "The French tax administration recently concluded a multi-year audit on the company's French accounts, and those details will be published in our public accounts."

Apple is facing pressure from the French government as finance minister Bruno LeMaire tries to push through an EU-wide digital tax. The effort, which has been met with some opposition from other EU countries, would apply a 3 percent tax to the online revenues of tech giants like Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon.

In 2016, the European Commission ordered Apple to pay $14.5 billion in unpaid taxes to the Irish government, saying Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to the U.S. tech giant. The EU said Apple paid an effective corporate tax rate of 0.005 percent on its European profits in 2014.

A comment from Apple wasn't immediately available when contacted by CNBC. France's tax authority declined to comment to CNBC.

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