The treatment of foreign patent profits is important to Apple because shifting those profits overseas was a cornerstone of its tax practices for decades. One creates a minimum tax on foreign patent income that is expected to come to about 13%, said Gavin Ekins, a research economist with the Tax Foundation. For those patents that remain overseas, the minimum tax on foreign patent profits means Apple might actually face higher cash taxes abroad. "It's entirely possible their cash tax bill going forward would go up based on this alone." "The (foreign cash) overhang for Apple is just an enormous issue," Kleinbard said.

Source: The Star December 21, 2017 08:03 UTC