“The European Commission will rule against Ireland’s tax dealings with Apple on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the decision told Reuters, one of whom said Dublin would be told to recoup over 1 billion euros in back taxes,” Reuters reports.
“The European Commission accused Ireland in 2014 of dodging international tax rules by letting Apple shelter profits worth tens of billions of dollars from tax collectors in return for maintaining jobs,” Reuters reports. “Apple and Ireland rejected the accusation and have both said they will appeal any adverse ruling.”
Reuters reports, “The source said the Commission will recommend a figure in back taxes that it expects to be collected but it will be up to Irish authorities to calculate exactly what is owed.”
Read more in the full article here.
“The European Commission, the bloc’s antitrust agency, opened a formal probe into Apple’s tax arrangements more than two years ago, accusing Ireland of striking deals with the U.S. tech company in 1991 and 2007 that amounted to state aid,” Natalia Drozdiak and Viktoria Dendrinou report for The Wall Street Journal. “The EU’s decision would come days after the U.S. Treasury Department published a white paper sharply critiquing the EU’s investigations into tax deals brokered between U.S. multinational companies and European countries.”
“The U.S. has accused the EU of unfairly targeting American companies in its investigations. American lawmakers have threatened to invoke an obscure section of the tax code that allows retaliatory double taxation,” Drozdiak and Dendrinou report. “Ireland previously has said it was confident its tax arrangements with Apple didn’t breach EU rules, and it would defend ‘all aspects’ of the case vigorously, in court if necessary.”
“At issue are the tax rulings, or so-called comfort letters, governments hand to multinationals to give clarity on how a specific tax will be calculated,” Drozdiak and Dendrinou report. “These would be illegal if they gave selective advantages to some companies.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Farcical.
There was no special deal that we cut with Ireland. We simply followed the laws in the country over the 35 years that we have been in Ireland. If the question is, was there ever a ‘quid pro quo’ that we were trying to strike with the Irish government – that was never the case. We’ve always been very transparent with the Irish government that we wanted to be a good corporate citizen… If countries change the tax laws, we will abide by the new laws and we will pay taxes according to those laws. – Apple CFO Luca Maestri, September 2014
SEE ALSO:
Ireland prepares for a fight with EU over Apple tax clawback – August 29, 2016
U.S. government warns EU: Do not hit Apple with a massive back tax bill – or else – August 25, 2016
European Commission denies anti-U.S. bias after U.S. Treasury intervention over Apple, Amazon tax probes – August 25, 2016