Although Apple is far from the only corporation in America to do so, a new report on the company attempts to blast the spotlight onto the methods used by the iPhone maker to avoid millions in corporate taxes -- and it’s all perfectly legal.

The New York Times filed a report over the weekend as part of its “iEconomy” series, which lifts the veil of secrecy over some of Apple’s business practices. While the initial entries in the series focused on Cupertino’s manufacturing in China, the latest attempts to hit them closer to home by exposing the shell game used to avoid paying millions in corporate taxes.

For example, Apple’s corporate tax rate in its home base of Cupertino, California is 8.84 percent. But 200 miles away in Reno, Nevada, it’s zero -- which is why the company has a small office there as Braeburn Capital, with a handful of employees “to collect and invest the company’s profits,” and it’s all completely legit.

“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,” the report reveals. “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.”

While many corporations use such tactics, it’s of particular advantage to companies who sell digital goods like those Apple offers via iTunes -- and thus far, the government has been powerless to adopt the tax code to modern times, resulting in technology firms often being the least taxed of all.

The report claims that Apple’s 2011 federal tax bill “would have been $2.4 billion higher last year,” although Cupertino already paid out $3.3 billion around the world on its $34.2 billion net profit, a tax rate of 9.8 percent. By comparison, a non-tech corporation like Walmart paid $5.9 billion in worldwide taxes on lower profits of $24.4 billion, a much higher tax rate of 24 percent.

The entire report is worthy of a read, but keep in mind that Apple’s methods are all currently legal -- for now.

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(Image courtesy of The New York Times)