“This week, in a regulatory filing, Apple said that if the EC comes back with an unfavorable ruling, the company could have to pay back the Irish government the disallowed state aid it received, covering a period of up to 10 years,” David Goldman reports for CNN.
“Apple said the amount could be ‘material,’ but it couldn’t yet estimate exactly how much it would have to pay,” Goldman reports. “Even if the EC rules against Ireland, Apple probably wouldn’t have to pay back taxes any time soon. The Irish government would almost certainly appeal the case, and it would likely be stuck in courts for years.”
“To soothe angry regulators, Ireland announced last year that it would end a key tax loophole for tech companies by 2020,” Goldman reports. “But some experts say the change is more of a public relations move than a step that will significantly increase the taxes those companies have to pay.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The key word in the headline is “may.” That could just as easily be “may not.”
As we wrote yesterday: Apple has repeatedly and confidently stated that they didn’t do anything that was against the law. Therefore, unless the EC tries to change the law retroactively, if that’s even possible, or tries to collect taxes retroactively in some other fashion, Apple is in the clear. By U.S. law, companies have to warn investors of potential material events in the 10-Q.
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