For Apple, new US tax bill is a victory but foreign patents remain a snag

The US Republican tax overhaul passed by Congress this week will allow Apple Inc to bring back its $252.3 billion foreign cash pile without a major tax hit - a long-standing company goal.

Other provisions of the bill, namely the cut in the corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 21 per cent, are also a big boon for Apple.

But not everything went the company’s way. A critical difference between the Senate version of the bill and the final version could actually raise the amount of cash taxes that Apple pays on profits from patents held abroad, tax experts said.

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