Apple will avoid a potential tax bill of up to $9bn by using the proceeds from its $17bn blockbuster bond issue to pay shareholders rather than bringing back cash from abroad. 苹果(Apple)将利用其170亿美元巨额债券发售所得向股东派发股息，而不是从海外汇回现金，此举可能令其规避最高90亿美元的税收。

The technology group would have paid as much as 35 per cent in tax to bring that amount of cash back into the US, according to lawyers and accountants. 据律师和会计师称，要将这一金额的现金汇回美国，该科技集团本将支付最高35%的税率。

Apple, which has $100bn worth of offshore cash compared with just $45bn in the US, last month announced that it would partly fund a record-breaking $55bn share buyback programme by using money raised in the corporate bond market. 苹果的海外现金规模为1000亿美元，而国内仅为450亿美元。该公司上月宣布，将通过利用在其公司债券市场筹集的资金来为创纪录的550亿美元股票回购计划提供部分资金。

The company will also save around $100m a year from using the debt rather than straight cash. Although the company’s $17bn borrowing from the corporate bond market this week will cost it around $310m a year in interest payments, it will regain about a third of that due to tax deductions. 通过利用债券而非直接利用现金，苹果还将每年节约大约1亿美元。尽管本周来自公司债券市场的170亿美元借款需要每年支付约3.10亿美元左右的利息，但由于税收减免政策，该公司将收回其中的约三分之一。

The tax saving comes at a time of growing unease from policy makers about multinational’s tax affairs. 苹果节省税收之际，正值政策制定者对于跨国公司的税收问题越来越感到不安。

Apple has promised to return $100bn to shareholders over the next three years. It would not have to bring money back from offshore as the company has strong free cash flow. 苹果已承诺，将在未来3年向股东返还1000亿美元。苹果原本不需要从海外收回资金，因为该公司拥有强劲的自由现金流。

In 2012, Apple made provisions for $14bn in income tax on pre-tax profits of $55.7bn, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. This gives the company an actual tax rate of 25 per cent. The group made an income tax provision of $713m on its foreign pre-tax earnings of $36.8bn, giving it a foreign actual tax rate of 2 per cent. Apple declined to comment. 根据苹果向美国证交会(SEC)提交的申报文件，2012年，该公司税前利润为557亿美元，为此拨备的所得税为140亿美元。这使得该公司支付的实际税率为25%。该公司的海外税前利润为368亿美元，为此拨备的所得税为7.13亿美元，其海外实际税率为2%。苹果拒绝置评。