A major leak from a law firm that suggests Foxconn has avoided paying as much as $22.86 billion in taxes has been strongly denied by the company. The major device assembler, known for putting together the iPhone along with other well-known products, has dismissed claims stemming from the "Panama Papers" leak that it was actively evading payment of taxes by making investments in Panama, an act many other prominent figures and companies have also been accused of performing.
The
Panama Papers is a collection of over 11 million documents spanning the last four decades, said to be linked to Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca. Reports claim the firm helped businesses, politicians, world leaders, celebrities, and others to hide funds via the creation of shell companies, both within Panama and in other tax havens.
According
to Digitimes, Foxconn said it has been an honest tax payer, and though the process of trading and investing via overseas subsidiaries was a "necessary mechanism for international trading," Foxconn reported related investments as part of its financial results. Foxconn insisted to the report it had no involvement in the Panama Papers scandal, advising it reserves the right to sue members of the media for spreading false rumors over the matter.
The financial schemes to minimize the payment of tax by strategically moving available funds have undergone intense scrutiny in recent years, and though it has not been mentioned in connection to the Panama Papers so far, Foxconn client Apple certainly has experience dealing with criticism. In the United States, CEO Tim Cook has
attacked complaints from lawmakers over tax payments as "total political crap," while in Europe, the company is waiting for the
European Commission's tax probe to complete, one that could potentially see it paying back over
$8 billion in owed taxes.