Apple CEO Tim Cook has apparently been scheduled to testify before the United States Senate next Tuesday in an investigation into corporations moving funds into offshore accounts to reduce their tax liability. Mr. Cook will be speaking before the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and while Apple has an estimated US$100 billion outside the United States, the hearing isn't being used to charge the company with any wrongdoing.
Apple CEO Tim Cook to testify in Senate offshore tax shelter hearing
Apple isn't the first big company to testify before the committee, according to Politico. Both HP and Microsoft spoke in September 2012 on offshore holdings.
Along with Apple, tax experts, IRS and Treasury Department representatives are also scheduled to testify at Tuesday's hearing.
While Apple and the subcommittee aren't confirming Mr. Cook will be at the hearing, the iPhone and Mac maker did say it has been cooperating with the investigation.
Apple spokesman Steve Dowling stated,
Apple is one of the largest taxpayers in the United States, having paid $6 billion in federal corporate income tax in fiscal 2012. We also help create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the U.S. by keeping our R&D in California and creating category-defining products like the iPhone, iPad and the app store, which has generated billions of dollars in sales for software developers.
Shifting funds offshore to avoid hefty tax payments is common for many corporations and current tax laws don't prohibit the action. Considering the massive amounts of money that aren't getting taxed, however, lawmakers have begun looking into the practice as a potential new revenue stream.
The subcommittee is expected to announce exactly who will be testifying at Tuesday's hearing before the end of the week.