Unpublished. The European Commission has struck a blow on Tuesday against the “tax benefits” granted by Ireland to Apple by ordering the US firm to reimburse Dublin over 13 billion euros. A record amount.
“The European Commission has concluded that Ireland had granted Apple undue tax benefits amounting to 13 billion euros. This is illegal under EU rules on state aid because it allowed Apple to pay significantly less tax than other companies. Ireland must now recover the unlawful aid “, informed the European Commission in a statement.
Apple and Dublin will appeal
Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner responsible for competition policy, indicates that the “selective tax treatment Apple” Ireland has allowed the firm at the apple “to be applying an effective tax rate of 1% of companies on its European profits in 2003, rates fell up ’0.005% in 2014 “. The EU executive points out that Apple actually avoided “tax on virtually all the profits generated by sales of Apple products throughout the EU single market” by registering all its sales in Ireland rather in countries where the products were sold.
The European Commission states that it “may order that aid unlawfully received State is recovered over a period of ten years before the first request for information, in 2013 the occurrence”.
The $ 13 billion is 40 times greater than previous amounts claimed by the Commission in similar cases. The amount asked Apple on Tuesday could still be downgraded, said the EU executive, if other countries are demanding more taxes from the technology giant.
From Meanwhile, Apple and Dublin have said they would appeal the EU ruling. Ireland denies having granted tax benefits to the American giant. The California group, it said in a statement: “Apple respects the law and pay all over taxes owed which it operates We will appeal and we hope to see the annulled decision..” Adding: “The case raised by Commission concerns not how Apple pay taxes but how the government collects money. [the decision] will have a profound and damaging effect on investment and job creation in Europe. ”
Later, Tim Cook, Apple boss, wished to recall in a letter to the Apple community in Europe in 1980, “well before the introduction of the iPhone, iPod or even the Mac “, his company had moved to Cork, Ireland, in a context of” high unemployment and poor economic investments. ” “We have become the largest taxpayer in Ireland, the largest taxpayer in the United States, and the largest taxpayer in the world,” he said.
The US Treasury agreed with the direction of the company, believing that this unprecedented decision could threaten foreign investment in Europe. In February, the US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was indignant in a letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, the EU “imposes penalties retroactively on the basis of a new broad interpretation of State aid (…) and appears to target US companies disproportionately. “
Not a large sum for Apple
other similar injunctions to that imposed on Apple could follow. Amazon and McDonalds are for example investigated their tax in Luxembourg and the European Commission ordered Starbucks to pay 30 million euros to the Dutch State.
For Apple, which was made in June of a mattress of cash and cash equivalents 231.5 billion, of which 92.8% were in the accounts of subsidiaries find the sum claimed by Brussels would not be insurmountable.
Holland wants to see more imposed digital multinationals
in view of the top of the post-Brexit European Union on 16 September in Bratislava, Francois Hollande said Tuesday that France proposed the establishment of European measures to further impose large multinational digital. These multinationals “come here to feed value, sometimes the capture, never restore the benefit that these large corporations are in countries where precisely this wealth has been created,” stressed the head of state.
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