Roach left the meeting and called a few tax experts to assess Apple’s practices. They all reacted with surprise. He and his fellow investigators sensed that they had unearthed something unique. They went back to Apple and its accountant for more information and additional interviews. They soon learned that Apple had three Irish subsidiaries with no tax residency anywhere, which had collected $74 billion in profits over a four-year period. A favorable agreement with the Irish government meant that it was paying less than a 2 percent tax rate on those earnings. More important, the investigators
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