by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Large Enterprise, Markets, Technology, World
Washington : iPhone maker Apple has agreed to pay Ireland $15.46 billion in back taxes by early 2018.
According to Wall Street Journal, Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said on Monday that both sides agreed to the terms of an escrow fund for the money.
The European Union in 2016 launched a fresh crackdown over taxes paid by tech giant Apple.
The EU said it planned to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to recover the money in back taxes from Apple.
According to the EU, the tax deal allowed Apple to pay almost nothing in tax on its European profits between 2003 and 2014.
It concluded that the US firm’s Irish tax benefits were illegal, enabling the firm to pay a corporate tax rate of no more than one per cent.
Ireland had claimed that EU regulators were interfering with national sovereignty.
Not just Apple, Amazon was also ordered to repay $293 million in back taxes after the European Commission said it had been given an unfair tax deal in Luxembourg.
Amazon denied it owed any back tax, saying it did “not receive any special treatment from Luxembourg”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Markets, Technology, World
Dublin : Microsoft has signed a 15-year wind energy agreement with GE in Ireland, becoming one of the first global technology firms to support a new wind project in the country.
Microsoft will purchase 100 per cent of the wind energy from its new, 37-megawatt Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland.
The agreement will help support the growing demand for Microsoft Cloud services from Ireland, the company said in a statement late on Monday.
As part of the deal, Microsoft also signed an agreement with Dublin-based energy trading company ElectroRoute that will provide energy trading services to Microsoft.
“Microsoft is proud to be deepening our long history of investment and partnership in Ireland with this agreement,” said Christian Belady, General Manager, Datacentre Strategy at Microsoft.
“Our commitment will help bring new, clean energy to the Irish grid, and contains innovative elements that have the potential to grow the capacity, reliability and capability of the grid,” he added.
The wind farm will integrate GE’s ‘Digital Wind Farm’ technology, which makes renewable energy outputs even more reliable.
“This partnership with Microsoft expands GE’s considerable presence and investment in Ireland, where we already employ over 1,500 people and in particular in the renewable energy sector,” said Andres Isaza, Chief Commercial Officer of GE Renewable Energy.
Once operational, the new wind project will bring Microsoft’s total global direct procurement in renewable energy projects to almost 600 megawatts.
—IANS
