Apple shaved $2.7bn off its tax bill this year by channelling earnings into Singapore, according to new disclosures that reveal how the city-state has become the tech giant's biggest tax shelter. The figures, filed with Apple's annual report under new US reporting requirements, show the company used Singapore's tax incentives regime to lower its bill after attributing as much as $50bn in profits through its Asian hub in 2026.
The savings in Singapore exceeded the $2.6bn reduction Apple achieved via Ireland, its European headquarters, the disclosures show. Zorka Milin, co-director of the Fact Coalition, a Washington-based tax transparency group, said: "While Apple's reliance on Ireland was first revealed more than a decade ago, the enormous tax savings in Singapore are a major revelation." Apple declined to comment.
The filings fall under new US federal accounting rules requiring US-listed companies to disclose when their tax on overseas profits differs significantly from the statutory federal rate of 21 per cent. Had Apple been taxed on all its global profits at that rate, it would have owed $33bn, against the $27bn in corporation taxes it actually incurred. Apple has faced intense scrutiny over offshore hubs before, having been forced to repay more than €13bn in Irish taxes after a 2016 EU state aid investigation.
A 2021 OECD deal introduced a minimum effective corporate tax rate of 15 per cent, and low-tax jurisdictions including Ireland and Singapore aligned with it. The expected exodus of multinationals has not materialised, and Singapore collected $2.5bn from Apple in 2026 through a top-up tax implemented last year. Mike Lewis, director of investigative think-tank Tax Watch, said the global minimum tax sets a relatively low floor, meaning that "to some degree, it's business as usual for some of these companies."
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing