EU Commission appeals Apple's €13 billion tax avoidance case

In 2016 the European Commission ruled that Apple had been given an unfair tax advantage by Ireland and owed 13 billion Euro ($14.9 billion) in back taxes to the Irish government.

Both Apple and Ireland appealed the ruling and in July 2020  the General Court of the EU annulled the ruling, with the court saying:

“The commission did not succeed in showing to the requisite legal standard that there was an advantage” for Apple, and “the commission did not prove, in its alternative line of reasoning, that the contested tax rulings were the result of discretion exercised by the Irish tax authorities.”

Now the European Commission is launching their on appeal, with EU Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager saying that the court “has made a number of errors of law.”

In 2016 Vestager said, “Member States cannot give tax benefits to selected companies — this is illegal under EU state aid rules.”

“The General Court has repeatedly confirmed the principle that, while Member States have competence in determining their taxation laws taxation, they must do so in respect of EU law, including State aid rules,” Vestager said. “If Member States give certain multinational companies tax advantages not available to their rivals, this harms fair competition in the European Union in breach of State aid rules.”

An Apple spokesperson said that the company has always abided by the law in Ireland and other places it operates.

“The General Court categorically annulled the Commission’s case in July and the facts have not changed since then,” the spokesperson said. “This case has never been about how much tax we pay, rather where we are required to pay it.”

via The Verge