Chinese authorities fine iPhone maker Foxconn 20,000 yuan amid tax probe

By Bloomberg News

Chinese tax authorities handed out a 20,000 yuan ($2,800) fine to a Foxconn Technology Group subsidiary for overstating expenses while Beijing is pursuing a broader probe into the iPhone maker’s operations.   
 

The Foxconn Industrial Internet Co. unit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan was fined by a local tax authority over its accounting of research and development expenses in 2021 and 2022, according to the state-run National Center for Public Credit Information. 

A Foxconn representative didn’t have immediate comment when contacted by Bloomberg News. 

The move comes as China looks into the Apple Inc. supplier’s tax affairs in the southern provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu and land use in Hubei and Henan, where the company makes the bulk of iPhones, according to an October report in state media. The report did not mention Wuhan as an area covered by the tax probe.

Foxconn founder Terry Gou is seeking to run in Taiwan’s presidential election in January. He said that China’s government would dare not touch his business empire when he formally announced his bid. His campaign activities have dwindled following the announcement of the investigations, but the billionaire remains in the race.

FII is a major contract manufacturer for Foxconn in China with close to 200,000 employees, according to its website.