Apple slashed $2.7 billion from its tax bill this year by funneling profits to Singapore, according to new revelations that reveal how the city-state became the tech giant’s biggest tax shelter.
The figures, filed with Apple’s annual report as part of new US reporting requirements, reveal the company took advantage of Singapore’s tax incentive scheme to reduce its bill after allocating up to $50 billion in profits through its Asian hub in 2026.
Its savings in Singapore exceeded the $2.6 billion reduction made through Ireland, Apple’s European headquarters, according to reports this week.
“While Apple’s dependence on Ireland was first revealed more than a decade ago, the huge tax savings in Singapore are a major revelation,” said Zorka Milin, co-director of Fact Coalition, a Washington-based tax transparency group.
Apple declined to comment.
These savings show that even after more than a decade of concerted global efforts to level the playing field on corporate taxation, America’s big tech companies continue to reap the rewards of accumulating profits in low-tax jurisdictions.
The disclosures are part of new U.S. federal accounting rules that require U.S.-listed companies to disclose when their foreign income taxes differ significantly from the statutory federal rate, which is 21 percent.
If Apple had been taxed on all of its global profits in 2026 at the US federal rate, it would have faced a total bill of $33 billion, demonstrating the scale of the $5 billion tax cut it received by booking profits in Ireland and Singapore. The company had to pay corporate taxes totaling $27 billion this year.
Many U.S. multinational corporations do not pay the 21 percent federal rate on all U.S. income because of domestic tax deductions and credits. However, the difference between this rate and the tax paid elsewhere indicates which foreign jurisdictions a company derives the greatest tax benefit from.
Apple has faced scrutiny over its use of offshore hubs to reduce its tax bill. The tech giant was forced to repay more than €13 billion in Irish taxes with interest after a high-profile EU state aid investigation in 2016 found it had illegally benefited from tax breaks in the country.
Sales between subsidiaries can allow multinational companies to shift profits from high-tax jurisdictions to low-tax jurisdictions, a strategy known as profit shifting.
The backlash against such maneuvers led to a historic deal in 2021, in which OECD-led countries agreed to introduce a minimum effective corporate tax rate of 15 percent.
Many low-tax jurisdictions, including Ireland and Singapore, aligned with the OECD’s efforts, with some anticipating an exodus of multinational corporations as they raised their tax rates.
But this leak has not materialized until now, allowing countries to collect exceptional taxes.
Singapore, for example, recouped $2.5 billion from Apple in 2026 via an additional tax implemented last year as part of its alignment with the OECD initiative.
Mike Lewis, director of think tank TaxWatch, said the global minimum tax sets a relatively low floor, meaning “to some extent it’s business as usual for some of these companies”.
Others have argued that companies’ decision to stay in these jurisdictions for now is a sign that they are there for reasons other than low taxes, such as a skilled workforce, infrastructure, and stable policy and legal frameworks.
Apple’s largest subsidiary in Singapore is a sales and marketing center, selling products and services to Apple entities overseas and “developing intellectual property”, according to its accounts.
Across its two main Singaporean entities, Apple generated about $9 million in pre-tax profit per employee in 2024, the latest year for which figures can be calculated.
In Ireland last year, Apple’s pre-tax profit per employee was $6 million. Worldwide in 2025, the equivalent figure was less than $1 million.
These vast disparities show the mismatch between the size of Apple’s workforce in these jurisdictions and the substantial profits being made there.
Singapore implemented the OECD rules for financial years starting in 2025. Its overall corporate tax rate is 17 percent, exceeding the global minimum tax, but companies can negotiate incentives that reduce this rate.
U.S. disclosures indicate that Apple benefits from such agreements, which provide relief and credits for activities considered by Singapore to have high economic value.
From 2023 to 2025, Apple’s effective tax rate in Singapore fluctuated by around 10%, as shown in the accounts of its main local entities.
This year and in the future, additional taxes levied under the OECD initiative are expected to bring their rate closer to 15 percent.
In 2025, Apple recorded pre-tax profits of almost $40 billion across its Singapore subsidiaries, according to their latest published accounts.
This year, that figure could reach $50 billion, according to FT estimates based on information published in the United States.
“We’re starting to get a sense of how much revenue loss (tax) is left on the table, billions of dollars just for this one company in a single year,” said Fact Coalition’s Milin.
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