Apple's Australian and New Zealand subsidiary raked in more than $9 billion in 2018, and has paid a mammoth tax bill as a result.
The iPhone maker's gross profit grew from $255.4 million in 2017 to $396.6 million for the year ending 29 September 2018, representing a 55 percent increase.
Revenue was up nearly 13 percent hitting $9.1 billion, compared to $8 billion in 2017. Of that $9.1 billion, $8 billion came from goods sold while the remainder came from services. The year saw Apple benefit from sales of the iPhone released in late 2017 plus its sequels, the XS and XS Max, which launched a week before Apple's financial year ended.
With bigger revenue comes a bigger tax bill. Apple incurred a tax bill of $164.1 million for the year, comprised of $127 million in income tax, a $30 million tax adjustment related to prior years and another deferred tax income expense of $7.3 million.
Apple Australia paid its biggest tax bill ever of $183 million in 2017, though the majority of that stemmed from a $90 million tax adjustment for prior years, as well as a $12.6 million deferred tax income tax expense and only $80 million on income tax.
The company came under international scrutiny for not paying its fair share of taxes last year. A week before Apple Australia ended its 2018 financial year, its parent company incorporated in Ireland was forced to hand back €14.3 billion (A$23 billion) in back taxes after the European Commission said it had received unfair tax advantages.
At a local level, the ATO has made clamping down on tax avoidance by large global companies a priority and has introduced a number of measures such as the Tax Avoidance Taskforce brought in new laws, including the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL), the Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) and Country-by-Country reporting (CbC).
Apple also increased its headcount by another 146 staff to reach 4112 as of 29 September 2018.
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