苹果或因税务调查面临高额罚款

Apple has warned investors that it could face “material” financial penalties from the European Commission’s investigation into its tax deals with Ireland — the first time it has disclosed the potential consequences of the probe.

苹果(Apple)对投资者发出警告：由于欧盟委员会(European Commission)正对其与爱尔兰之间的税务协议展开调查，公司可能被处以“重大”罚款——这是苹果首次披露该调查的潜在后果。

Under US securities rules, a material event is usually defined as 5 per cent of a company’s average pre-tax earnings for the past three years. For Apple, which reported the highest quarterly profit ever for a US company in January, that could exceed $2.5bn, according to FT calculations.

根据美国的证券法规，所谓重大事宜（material event）通常是会涉及一家公司过去3年平均税前利润的5%。据英国《金融时报》计算，对于今年1月在录得美国公司中最高季度盈利的苹果而言，罚款额可能高于25亿美元。

The warning came in Apple’s regular 10-Q filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, a day after it reported first-quarter revenues of $58bn and net income of $13.6bn.

周二，苹果在提交至美国证交会(SEC)的10-Q监管文件中发出了上述警告。一天之前，苹果公告称今年一季度营收达580亿美元，净利润达136亿美元。

Brussels has the power to order Dublin to reclaim 10 years of tax advantages granted to Apple if it finds that deals struck in 1991 and 2007 were unlawful.

如果查实1991年至2007年苹果与爱尔兰达成的税收协议违法，则欧盟有权命令爱尔兰收回给予苹果的10年税收减免额。