Taxing times for S'pore as corporate strategy faces scrutiny

[SINGAPORE] At first sight, tiny Singapore does not look like one of Apple Inc's priority markets: It has no official Apple Store and doesn't even rate a mention in the company's latest annual report.

Apple South Asia Pte Ltd, its Singapore entity, however, booked US$14.9 billion in revenue for the 12 months to September 2012 - more than it would have received had the country's entire 5.3 million population each bought an iPhone 5S, an iPad Air and a MacBook Pro.

There is nothing illegal about the accounting practices employed by the computer giant, which, like many multinational corporations (MNCs) ranging from Google Inc and Microsoft Corp to BHP Billiton and Huawei Technology Co, uses the city-state as a key hub for its Asia business.