Apple Saved $2.7 Billion in Tax by Booking Profits in Singapore, Overtaking Ireland
A Financial Times analysis of Apple's annual report shows Singapore has passed Ireland as the company's largest tax shelter, with up to $50 billion of profit booked in the city-state in fiscal 2026.
Apple saved about $2.7 billion in tax in fiscal 2026 by booking profits in Singapore, which has passed Ireland as the company’s largest tax shelter, according to a Financial Times analysis of Apple’s annual report published on Sunday.
The newspaper estimates Apple booked up to $50 billion of profit in Singapore during the year that ended September 26. The figures come from Apple’s Form 10-K, filed on November 3, which breaks down the company’s tax bill country by country for the first time.
In the tax reconciliation in the filing, Apple lists a $5.49 billion reduction from Singapore’s lower tax rate, including incentives, measured against the 21 percent U.S. federal rate. That benefit is partly offset by a $2.51 billion Singapore top-up tax and $311 million in other items, leaving a net saving of about $2.67 billion.
Why the breakdown is public now
Starting with its 2026 report, Apple adopted the U.S. accounting standard ASU 2023-09, which requires companies to itemize large reconciling items by jurisdiction and disclose cash taxes paid by country. Until last year, Apple grouped its foreign tax effects together.
Singapore’s top-up tax is the city-state’s version of the global 15 percent minimum tax for groups with at least 750 million euros in revenue, which applies from financial years starting in 2025. It narrows the gap with the U.S. rate but, as the filing shows, does not close it.
Ireland’s line in the filing shows a $3.46 billion rate benefit minus $897 million in other items, a net of about $2.57 billion. Apple paid $3.25 billion in cash income tax in Singapore and $4.96 billion in Ireland.
A higher tax rate, and a record year
Apple reported $159.2 billion in pre-tax income for fiscal 2026, of which $95.5 billion was foreign, and a $27.06 billion tax provision. Its effective tax rate rose to 17.0 percent from 15.6 percent in fiscal 2025, which Apple attributes mainly to a higher rate on foreign earnings and U.S. currency loss rules.
The filing came a day after Apple reported record fiscal 2026 revenue of $478.8 billion, up about 15 percent from a year earlier. The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple paid $19.011 billion in U.S. corporate taxes in its latest fiscal year, close to 5 percent of all U.S. corporate tax collections, along with $5 billion to Ireland, $3.3 billion to Singapore and $1.7 billion to U.S. state and local governments.
Reporting based on coverage by the Financial Times, ShiftDelete and the Wall Street Journal.
