Adobe pays €35m tax on €1.9bn revenue

The main Irish unit of US software giant Adobe paid just $41m (€34.7m) in corporation tax last year, despite its revenues rising by 19% to $2.23bn (€1.88bn).

Newly-filed accounts for the Citywest-based Adobe Systems Software Ireland Ltd show pre-tax profits increased by 36% to $60.58m last year. The company had paid $28.9m in tax in 2015.

The company acts as the intermediate holding company for Adobe’s subsidiaries in Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific regions and also operates two branches in Singapore and Dubai.

The revenues generated by the Irish-based division represent 40% of the software group’s worldwide revenues.

The tax bill represents around 0.0179% of revenues. Based on the Irish corporation tax rate of 12.5%, the company would have been liable for a tax bill of $7.57m.

However, foreign withholding taxes of $37.74m and other factors contributed to the tax bill of $41.86m.

The company recorded post-tax profits of $18.72m last year.

The company’s cashpile increased from $279m to $292m last year, while its cost of sales rose from $1.2bn to $1.65bn.

Distribution expenses increased from $465m to $552m and the company’s administrative expenses reduced from $117.24m to $40.96m.

Numbers employed by the company last year increased from 119 to 132. However, staff costs reduced from $12.35m to $12.12m.

The company’s management said, in the accounts, that they were satisfied with the results for the year.

The profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of $20.4m.