蘋果或因稅務調查面臨高額罰款

Apple has warned investors that it could face “material” financial penalties from the European Commission’s investigation into its tax deals with Ireland — the first time it has disclosed the potential consequences of the probe.

蘋果(Apple)對投資者發出警告：由於歐盟委員會(European Commission)正對其與愛爾蘭之間的稅務協議展開調查，公司可能被處以“重大”罰款——這是蘋果首次披露該調查的潛在後果。

Under US securities rules, a material event is usually defined as 5 per cent of a company’s average pre-tax earnings for the past three years. For Apple, which reported the highest quarterly profit ever for a US company in January, that could exceed $2.5bn, according to FT calculations.

根據美國的證券法規，所謂重大事宜（material event）通常是會涉及一家公司過去3年平均稅前利潤的5%。據英國《金融時報》計算，對於今年1月在錄得美國公司中最高季度盈利的蘋果而言，罰款額可能高於25億美元。

The warning came in Apple’s regular 10-Q filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, a day after it reported first-quarter revenues of $58bn and net income of $13.6bn.

週二，蘋果在提交至美國證交會(SEC)的10-Q監管文件中發出了上述警告。一天之前，蘋果公告稱今年一季度營收達580億美元，淨利潤達136億美元。

Brussels has the power to order Dublin to reclaim 10 years of tax advantages granted to Apple if it finds that deals struck in 1991 and 2007 were unlawful.

如果查實1991年至2007年蘋果與愛爾蘭達成的稅收協議違法，則歐盟有權命令愛爾蘭收回給予蘋果的10年稅收減免額。