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"Editor\u2019s note:\u00A0This article by\u00A0Liam Boogar\u00A0originally appeared\u00A0on\u00A0Rude Baguette, which covers\u00A0the Internet and technology sector in France, combining breaking news with in-depth analysis.\r\n\r\nApple\u2019s been in the spotlight quite a lot recently, and it seems that the company, with $145 billion in cash as of April 2013, just can\u2019t get a break. \r\n\r\nThe French association SACEM, which controls royalties paid out to authors, announced last week that Apple has failed to pay 5 million euros ($6.5 million) in royalties and taxes on iPads sold in 2011.\r\n\r\nTo give a bit of a background, the 'copie priv\u00E9e' is a tax in several countries, including France and Germany, that is applied to all digital devices that can transfer, read, or otherwise make use of copyrighted material. \r\n\r\nThe tax goes to the SACEM, which then takes the lump sum of all the taxes collected and deals them out to authors, creators, producers, actors, etc. accordingly.\r\n\r\nNow there are plenty of taxes in France \u2013 the latest for tablets may be a 1% tax to go to cultural works \u2013 but the problem here isn\u2019t so much the tax, but that Apple actually charged the consumers this tax and didn\u2019t pay it out to the SACEM. \r\n\r\nThis is a surprisingly absent-minded slip up for a company that prides itself on its low tax rates, and is getting attacked from all angles about taxes paid on revenues generated.\r\n\r\nThe overall point, however, is crystal clear: the government is thumbing through every page of major tech companies\u2019 tax declarations, and now is not a good time to slip up on something simple like this.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nImage credit: Jean-Sebastien Evrard for AFP / Getty Images"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/apple/2013/06/03/meanwhile-in-france-apple-to-pay-6-5-million-in-unpaid-taxes-on-2011-ipad-sales/>