| From: Sr K | 7/15/2020 8:51:12 AM | | | | | | Apple does not have to pay €13B in Irish back taxes, according to the EU's General Court, which concluded that the tech giant has not been "granted a selective economic advantage and, by extension, state aid." The decision, which can only be appealed "on points of law" to the EU's highest tribunal, is a setback for the European Commission,
From WSJ
Apple Wins Major Tax Battle Against EU
The bloc’s second-highest court sided with the tech giant saying it didn’t owe billions to Ireland in unpaid tax
wsj.com
The case stems from a 2016 decision by the European Commission, the bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, which said that Ireland must recoup €13 billion in allegedly unpaid taxes between 2003 and 2014, money the commission said constituted an illegal subsidy under the bloc’s strict state-aid rules.
In a stinging rebuke to the commission, the General Court said it annulled the decision because the commission had failed to meet the legal standards in showing that Apple was illegally given special treatment.
Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of competition at the commission, said she would “carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps” and vowed to continue investigations into national tax deals with corporations to establish whether they constitute illegal subsidies.
“The Commission stands fully behind the objective that all companies should pay their fair share of tax,” she said, adding that if one EU government gives corporations tax benefits that aren’t available to their rivals, “this harms fair competition in the EU.”
The 2016 decision against Apple earned Ms. Vestager the nickname “tax lady” from President Trump. She recently launched two antitrust probes into Apple, is now also responsible for tech regulation and is considering imposing a digital tax on tech giants.
The tax case overturned in Wednesday’s ruling is based on a quirk of EU law aimed at creating a level playing field for companies across the bloc by forbidding governments from granting companies some types of state-aid.
The case was Ms. Vestager’s first major taxation case in a series she brought against Amazon.com Inc., Starbucks Corp., Nike Inc., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Engie S.A. of France.
So far, the General Court has sided with Starbucks in a taxation case but with the commission in its case against Fiat. Amazon in March had argued at the General Court that Ms. Vestager’s 2017 order to pay Luxembourg $277 million in allegedly unpaid taxes was riddled with legal and factual errors.
Commission lawyers denied those allegations and said that neither Amazon nor Luxembourg was able to prove that they didn’t get an unfair advantage from the tax deal.
A central issue in the Apple case was whether two Irish tax rulings granted to Apple in 1991 and 2007 gave a form of special treatment to the company, or whether they just reiterated an interpretation of Irish tax law as it was applied more generally.
Those rulings allowed two Irish-registered Apple units to attribute only a small sliver of some $130 billion in profit to Ireland in an 11-year period. The commission said all that revenue should be attributed to Ireland, but the Irish government and Apple say they split the profit reasonably, given that almost all of Apple’s intellectual property is developed in the U.S., not Ireland.
In Wednesday’s ruling, the General Court said that, despite the gaps in the contested tax rulings, the commission hadn’t proven the Irish government granted a special advantage to Apple that was unavailable to other companies in Ireland.
The commission had argued in its decision that the rulings gave Apple a selective advantage because the iPhone maker and Ireland offered no specific evidence to justify how the profit was allocated. The EU also argued the rulings deviated from the “arm’s-length principle,” a standard for setting commercial conditions between units of the same company as if they were independent.
Ireland contended however that its tax rulings “did not depart from ‘normal’ taxation” because it had merely followed a portion of Irish tax code that says nonresident companies shouldn’t pay income tax on profit that isn’t generated in Ireland.
Separately, the commission on Wednesday laid out several plans on how to ensure fairer taxation across the bloc, including by increasing obligations for digital platforms to report where and what amounts of tax they are paying and by facilitating joint audits across jurisdictions in the EU. Legislative proposals under these plans will be put forward in autumn, pending approval of national governments and the European Parliament. |
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| To: Sr K who wrote (209181) | 7/15/2020 11:15:04 AM | | From: JP Sullivan | | | | | Sad to say the EU is run by a bunch of overwrought, overreaching females who think the way forward is to tax, tax, tax, ad infinitum! Apple was always playing by the rules, imo. If there's a loophole, it's not Apple fault. But that Danish matron, what's her name, Vestager, insisted on moving the goalposts. |
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| From: Moonray | 7/15/2020 11:35:32 AM | | | | | | Apple price target raised on services, wearable drivers
By: Brandy Betz, SA News Editor - Jul. 15, 2020 9:11 AM
Needham Laura Martin sees Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone,
wearables, and services as "brand extension" categories that
lock users into Apple's ecosystem longer, driving long-term value.
Martin raises Apple's price target from $350 to $450, a 16% upside.
Services is a key upside driver due to its recurring and high-margin
revenue stream, writes Martin.
Martin is also optimistic about the "rising lifetime value (LTV) and
falling churn driven by services and ancillary product growth and
structural demand for shares by AAPL as they try to buy shares
worth approximately $90B of net cash plus $60-80B of annual FCF."
Needham maintains a Buy rating on Apple. The company has a
Bullish average Wall St. Analysts rating and $358.18 average price
target.
Related: Earlier today, the EU's General Court ruled Apple
doesn't have to pay €13B in Irish back taxes.
o~~~ O
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| From: Moonray | 7/15/2020 11:41:46 AM | | | | | | BofA Raises Apple Price Target For Second Time In 5 Weeks
July 15, 2020
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) investors have had another big year
in a difficult environment in 2020, but one Wall Street analyst said
Wednesday that things could get even better for Apple in the
second half of the year.
The Apple Analys; t: Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan
reiterated his Buy rating for Apple and raised his price target
from $390 to $410.
The Apple Thesis Mohan, who previously raised his price target
from $340 to $390 in early June, said Wednesday that Apple has
too many traits of a good investment to ignore.
The company has arguably the world’s best balance sheet that
provides safety in an uncertain environment. It’s a tech story stock
with an imminent catalyst in 5G iPhones. It’s a large-cap tech stock
with relatively low regulatory risk. It benefits from passive inflows
and provides investors an alternative source of dividend income
while interest rates remain essentially at 0%.
At the same time, Mohan said Apple has extremely impressive
business fundamentals as well. App store revenue growth has
been robust, iPhone channel inventory is falling, iPhone demand
has been resilient, and Apple’s brand remains extremely strong
among its customers.
“While near term data points are getting more constructive, we
also think positioning has a significant role in the near term price
action,” Mohan wrote in a note.
Bank of America said third-party developer data suggests App
Store revenue grew roughly 30% in the fiscal third quarter. Mohan
is expecting 20% Apple Services revenue growth in the third
quarter and 18% growth for the full fiscal year. He is also projecting
17% Services revenue growth in fiscal 2021 and 15% growth in 2022.
o~~~ O |
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| To: Pete_Y_48 who wrote (209186) | 7/15/2020 5:39:44 PM | | From: clean86 | | | | News Media click bait.
If the headline said Apple replacing first China Store everyone would go yawn.
Say Apple Store closing for good and people click the link to see what's happening. |
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| From: Moonray | 7/16/2020 8:30:22 PM | | | | | | Apple target raised on 5G and Services potential
By: Brandy Betz - Jul. 16, 2020 8:56 AM ET
Joining the chorus of firms praising Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL)
5G iPhone tailwind, Canaccord Genuity raises the company's
price target from $310 to $444.
The firm says Apple's positioning to "benefit from the long-term
5G investment cycle" will support results in 2021.
Growth in Apple's installed base will also drive ecosystem
services and hardware sales benefits, writes the firm.
Canaccord expects Services revenue to outpace Apple's
total growth.
Canaccord maintains a Buy rating on Apple.
o~~~ O |
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