> Apple, however, said in a statement: "The European Commission is trying to retroactively change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income was already subject to taxes in the US." My understanding is that the U.S.A. double-taxes both corporations operating abroad, as well as it's own expats. If this is true, then it's quite the remark to say _the country you're actually in_ is the o…
Expats aren’t double taxed but you need to file tax returns to offset taxable income that’s already been taxed. There are specific agreements to avoid double taxation but it’s unclear/unlikely the IRS are just going to hand back money Apple already paid (it likely falls outside of what’s required in those international agreements). Companies, and people, make decisions based on the tax laws of the day eg deciding to…
Glad to hear it, because what Americans told me (that they get taxed for the same money they paid tax on in their host country) is bonkers.
EDIT: Seems there's some disagreement ;) The other commentor echoes what I've heard from Americans living in Europe. Absolute madness. I also heard it's very costly to try and give up your American citizenship, exactly to protect that juicy free tax America gets from it's expats.
> If they can do it to Apple, why not to regular citizens?
They already do. Knowledge worker migrants were promised eight years of tax breaks by the Dutch government, who later changed their minds after those people already moved to the Netherlands.
This isn't even that though, this is the EU saying the agreement made by Ireland with Apple wasn't legal. It's like how they get people who avoid tax by finding loopholes to pay back-taxes once the tax office catches them (yes, this happens too).