EU demands Apple pay Ireland up to 13 bln euros in tax

BRUSSELS, Aug 30 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators ordered Apple on Tuesday to pay up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in taxes plus interest to the Irish government after ruling that a special scheme to route profits through Ireland was illegal state aid. "Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years," said Competition Commission Margrethe Vestager, whose crackdown on mainly U.S. multinationals has angered Washington which accuses Brussels of protectionism. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that a three-year investigation found Ireland granted such lavish tax breaks to Apple that the multinational's effective corporate tax rate on its European profits dropped from 1 percent in 2003 to a mere 0.005 percent in 2014. "Ireland's position remains that the full amount of tax was paid in this case and no state aid was provided," the government in Dublin said in a statement. We will appeal and we are confident the decision will be overturned.”

The Irish finance minister, Michael Noonan, said he would seek approval from the Irish Cabinet to legally challenge the EU Commission’s ruling. Apple and Dublin said the U.S. company’s tax treatment was in line with Irish and European Union law and they would appeal the ruling, which is part of a drive against what the EU says are sweetheart tax deals that usually smaller states in the bloc offer multinational companies to lure jobs and investment. "Over the years, we received guidance from Irish tax authorities on how to comply correctly with Irish tax law — the same kind of guidance available to any company doing business there," Cook said in a letter posted on the company's website. While the EU isn't directly targeting that cash hoard, new tax cases filed by the EU could significantly reduce the revenue that the U.S. government could collect from it. “Ireland does not do deals with taxpayers.”

Apple accused the EU executive body of engaging in efforts “to rewrite Apple’s history in Europe, ignore Ireland’s tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process.”

“The Commission’s case is not about how much Apple pays in taxes, it’s about which government collects the money,” the company said in a statement.
The European Union orders Apple to pay up to 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland. A three-year investigation by the EU's competition commissioner concludes that Apple received "illegal state aid" from Ireland, the EU order that Apple pay 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion), and, in addition, also interest and unpaid taxes.