Apple wins appeal against $15 billion tax bill imposed by the EU

nanoguy

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Staff member
In brief: After six years, the General Court of the European Union sided with Apple in a case where the European Commission accused the company of abusing Ireland's permissive tax system. The Commission will likely appeal this ruling in the EU's supreme court in the coming months.

Apple recently won an appeal over a tax bill of $15 billion (€13 billion) that was ordered to pay back to Ireland. Back in 2014, the European Commission started looking into Ireland's tax system and found that tech giants like Apple had been abusing it to pay lower rates and get additional tax breaks and benefits that aren't available in many other countries. In 2016, the EU's antitrust enforcer told Ireland to recoup the illegal subsidies given to the Cupertino company between 2003 and 2014, when the country began reforming its tax system.

In 2016, Apple caved in and handed Ireland $16.7 billion (the original amount plus interest), and both entities appealed the decision in the EU's General Court, who has concluded "the Commission was wrong to declare that ASI (Apple Sales International) and AOE (Apple Operations Europe) had been granted a selective economic advantage and, by extension, State aid."

The new ruling represents a massive blow to Margrethe Vestager, as this was seen as her crown achievement as antitrust commissioner, earning her the reputation of the "tax lady" that was going to punish American tech giants. Vestager, who is now in charge of EU digital policy, said the European Commission "will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps."

As for Apple, the company applauded the General Court's ruling and noted that it "has paid more than $100 billion in corporate income taxes around the world in the last decade and tens of billions more in other taxes."

The Cupertino company also believes this case was "not about how much tax we pay, but where we are required to pay it." Countries like France and Italy have been working to introduce a new digital services tax, which has led the Trump administration to vow 100 percent tariffs on imported products from those countries.

The OECD is scrambling to rewrite international tax rules by the end of this year to make it harder for tech giants to practice tax avoidance and to force them into paying their fair share in every country they operate in. Earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook affirmed his support for the efforts.

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#1 I am VERY happy to hear this.

#2 As an Apple shareholder I am extremely happy to hear this.

#3 As an Apple iPhone/ watch lover, I am completely satisfied to hear this.
 
If I understood correctly, this case was brought under the specific charge that Ireland illegally gave Apple special treatment. Both Ireland and Apple deny that. I tried to understand what the special treatment was, but if there was anything, I couldn't find it spelled out in any way that made sense to me. I think the EU court was right on the merits.

Of course, it's entirely possible that the specific charge was just the pretext that was available, and that the real issue is someone saw a big pool of money and they wanted to take a cut of it by any means available. If so we can probably expect they'll try again, potentially with another excuse that is just as flimsy.
 
I disagree with the language "abused". they used the tax system. that the laws had avenues not thought of by the lawmakers is tough ****. do a better job writing laws that conform to your intention! you're law makers ffs - it's what you do. apparently not very well

I agree completely. Paying the legally required minimum amount of tax is not an exploit of a system. It is following the law as written. If the people writing the laws wanted different actions, they would write the laws differently. Most law makers are lawyers that either are terrible lawyers or intentionally and knowingly put vague and inadequate detail into laws.
 
I disagree with the language "abused". they used the tax system. that the laws had avenues not thought of by the lawmakers is tough ****. do a better job writing laws that conform to your intention! you're law makers ffs - it's what you do. apparently not very well

Laws are the result of a political process and thus the laws are only as good as that process. If there's corporate influence in the election of these people, there's influence in the laws as well.
 
Seems like a rainy day is coming to Ireland, if we have to cash out 15 billion back to Apple.
 
Seems like a rainy day is coming to Ireland, if we have to cash out 15 billion back to Apple.
I mean, I'd hope that people were smart enough to hold onto that until AFTER the legalities are over......
 
I would not be surprised if that was put into an escrow while things were hashed out. when there is room for appeal money like that is rarely just handed over
 
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