Apple receives €23.5bn in dividends from its Irish subsidiary

New accounts show Apples sales jumped by more than 40% last year

Apple Operations International (AOI) which is based in Hollyhill in Cork covers nearly all of the technology giant's non-US subsidiary companies. Picture Dan Linehan

Apple’s main Irish company main paid dividends of $24.8bn (€23.5bn) to its parent company in the US last year, newly filed accounts show.

Apple Operations International (AOI) which is based in Hollyhill in Cork is the holding company for nearly all of the technology giant's non-US subsidiary companies. 

The accounts filed this week with the Companies Registration Office cover the financial year ending 25 September 2021.

Apple has provided for an income tax bill of $11.6bn that includes $8.5bn in relation to corporation tax. However, the accounts do not break down how much corporation tax was paid in Ireland.

The accounts show the dividend paid for 2021 is down significantly on the $81.5bn paid in dividends for 2020. The accounts state that the dividends are subject to US tax.

AOI said revenues jumped to $211.1bn last year a 42.4% increase on the $148.2bn in sales recorded the previous year.

The number of employees across AOI subsidiaries also rose from 51,255 to 52,563. More than 6,000 of this number are based in Cork in Apple's three locations at Hollyhill, Lapp's Quay and new offices on Horgan's Quay.

Total staff costs for the company amounted to $5.8bn with the company's wage, pension and share-based compensation bill all increasing.

According to the account statement, profits before taxation at the company reached $67.6bn, more than double the $33.8bn recorded the year before.

The lengthy accounts statement outlines a range of risks that could impact Apple's business including the Covid-19 pandemic which has already caused significant disruption. Apple said they are the subject of several antitrust investigations in various countries and said it is being investigated in European in relation to the terms and conditions of its app store and said any adverse findings could result in significant fines.

In 2016 Ireland was ordered to recoup State aid given to Apple over an 11-year period by the European Commission. The recovery amount was €13.1bn plus interest of €1.2bn. Apple and the Irish State has appealed this decision to the EU's General Court which annulled the decision. However, the Commission has appealed that decision and a final determination of the case is awaited.

The €14.3bn fund was put into an escrow account until that decision is made. The rules of the account mean Apple can pay certain taxes owed in other countries from the fund and the accounts published this week show the value of the fund excluding interest fell to €12.7bn as of September 25 last year.

Along with significant finance operations operated from Hollyhill, Apple also carries out manufacturing, logistics, finance, sales and customer care services from Cork. Last month the company opened a new engineering and test facility at its campus in a significant addition to its operations in Ireland. The facility will test and analyse Apple products for the whole of Europe. It is only the third such site in the world operated by the company.