New York Times reports how Apple uses its small Reno, Nevada office to reduce its tax burdens. It is perfectly legal and Apple shareholders must not panic.

Apple’s headquarters are in Cupertino, Calif. By putting an office in Reno, just 200 miles away, to collect and invest the company’s profits, Apple sidesteps state income taxes on some of those gains.

 

California’s corporate tax rate is 8.84 percent. Nevada’s? Zero.

 

Setting up an office in Reno is just one of many legal methods Apple uses to reduce its worldwide tax bill by billions of dollars each year. As it has in Nevada, Apple has created subsidiaries in low-tax places like Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands — some little more than a letterbox or an anonymous office — that help cut the taxes it pays around the world.

 

Yet, Apple is paying something. GE did not pay any tax last year. Its tax rate was zero percent.