Apple saved $2.7 billion in taxes in 2026 by channeling its finances through Singapore, better than its usual move involving Ireland.
As a large multinational corporation, Apple knows a thing or two about taxes and how to minimize its exposure to it. However, even though Ireland was seen as one of the top destinations for reducing its taxes, it did even better by using a different territory.
In an Apple annual statement that complies with US reporting rules, the Financial Times claims that Apple has taken good advantage of Singapore’s tax incentives. It funneled around $50 billion in profits through the Asian hub in 2026 alone.
This decision made it possible to reduce by 2.7 billion dollars the taxes which should have been paid and which remain in Apple’s accounts.
It turns out that the savings are greater than those Apple achieved by using its European headquarters in Ireland. In the same time frame, going through Ireland resulted in a significant but slightly lower tax saving of $2.6 billion.
Be careful, Icarus
Apple has every incentive to try to expand its finances to other parts of the world, just to avoid paying too much in taxes.
Corporate taxes paid by Apple totaled $27 billion this year. However, if the company had been taxed on its worldwide profits at the US federal rate, that figure would have been $33 billion.
With such huge sums at stake, Apple must try to be as tax efficient as possible. Sometimes this happens to an extreme degree, and it’s already burned Apple.
The biggest and most egregious example of tax savings is Ireland, after the European Commission ruled that Apple had benefited from illegal state aid. Indeed, Apple only had to pay 0.005% tax in 2014 and 1% in 2003.
This resulted in a legal battle between Apple, Ireland and the EU, as well as the payment of more than $14 billion into an escrow account. Ultimately, the European Court of Justice ruled in favor of the European Commission.
This led to Apple paying $17 billion in taxes to Ireland in 2025, bringing the total to $43 billion for the year.
Gn bussni
