Here's Why the IRS Is Investigating Facebook — Tech Roundup

The IRS is taking a closer look at Facebook, which moved its worldwide business rights to Ireland in 2010. Apple preps its iOS 10 launch with a public beta version.
By Bret Kenwell ,

There's rarely a shortage of major U.S. tech companies making headlines due to their tax structure and organization in Europe, especially as the European Union looks to buckle down on existing tax loopholes.

This time we've got the U.S. tech company and Europe, but not the E.U. Instead, the Internal Revenue Service will investigate Facebook (FB) - Get Report over its "transfer of various rights associated with its worldwide business to a holding company in Ireland," according to Reuters.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit in a San Francisco federal court earlier this week, in an effort to force the social media juggernaut to produce documentation that will go towards the IRS's investigation.

Excluding the U.S. and Canada, Facebook transferred its worldwide rights to Ireland in 2010. The company made the move to lower its overall tax bill, but the IRS has reason to believe Facebook significantly undervalued the value of certain assets, which is why it's now investigating the matter.

Reportedly, the IRS has been attempting to gather relevant information on the event since 2010, with little cooperation from Facebook.

Shares of Facebook closed at $115.85 Thursday, down 0.7%.

Did you want Apple's (AAPL) - Get Report new iOS 10 so that you could sign up to be organ donor? Well, conveniently enough, the company will soon be coming out with a public beta version.

Officially slated for the fall, iOS 10 is sure to impact how customers use their iPhones. That is, after all, the point of a software update. From the company's site, "Each public beta comes with a built-in Feedback Assistant app...When you come across an issue that needs addressing, send your report directly to Apple with Feedback Assistant."

It's a win-win, assuming you can't wait a few more months to get your hands on the new version. Users should be aware though, that like all beta tests there will likely be a bumps and hiccups along the way.

Assuming you can live with that though, users will enjoy an updated version of Maps and Siri, as well as an expanded experience on the home screen. Apple is also opening up to further third party integrations, although these updates will likely come along later once the final version of iOS 10 is released.

One cool feature? Seamless bilingual keyboards. Rather than switching between languages on a daily basis, users can simply type away and iOS will automatically detect which language it is. Users can even switch languages mid-sentence. This will be great for my Spanglish texting -- and ya know, people who actually text in differently languages throughout the day.

Shares of Apple closed at $95.94 Thursday, up 0.4%.

Kevin Turner, COO of Microsoft (MSFT) - Get Report is leaving the company, which prompted CEO Satya Nadella to announced a reorganization of senior execs. Turner has been with the company for more than a decade, but is leaving to become CEO of the securities unit at Citadel.

Rather than naming a successor to take over the COO position, Nadella named two executives who will "divvy up the sales responsibilities and report to him," according to SiliconValley.

The recent shakeup isn't the first from Microsoft, which overhauled its engineering/R&D operations in 2015. As TheStreet's Eric Jhonsa broke down earlier, the company's different divisions often operated as rivals, rather than co-workers.

As is often the case, Turner was at one point considered a possible successor to become CEO. That was before Nadella got the job in 2014 to replace a resigning Steve Ballmer.

Shares of Microsoft closed at $51.38 Thursday, flat from the prior session.

Facebook and Apple are holdings of Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells FB or AAPL? Learn more now.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.

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