@ !Sparctacus - your conclusion is wrong
The US corporate tax law was changed late last year, so the US no longer taxes overseas profit at all, which was already the case for every other country (except one or two tiny ones, IIRC)
But you are totally 100% utterly wrong in your conclusion that it was the US handling of overseas taxes that led to Apple seeking such a deal with Ireland, and pretty much every other major US company using similar schemes to dodge UK or EU taxes to whatever extent possible.
The tax law change that removes what you point to doesn't eliminate any incentive for US companies to try to avoid taxes in other countries. Indeed, it makes it even MORE worthwhile to attempt to avoid foreign taxes, as previously the best you could hope for was piling the money up and eventually getting to bring it home at a reduced rate if you waited long enough and got a compliant administration willing to do another repatriation holiday like Bush II did. Now you can bring it home at the ultimate reduced rate - 0% - and bring it home immediately to be turned into dividends/buybacks so every dollar of avoided/minimized foreign tax is even more valuable.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
