He called the decision “maddening” and urged the Irish government to appeal after the European Commission ruled Ireland had given the tech giant a “special tax deal” dating back more than a quarter of a century.
Advertisement
Ireland’s minister for finance, Michael Noonan, “disagrees profoundly” with the Commission’s ruling and is seeking the Irish Cabinet’s approval to appeal the decision.
Parliament’s summer recess is not due to end until the end of September.
In another threat to sovereignty the plan also calls for the European Union to take over corporation tax powers – with the Apple tax thought to be the first step. In a public letter to Apple customers on August 30, Cook wrote: “We are committed to Ireland and we plan to continue investing there, growing and serving our customers with the same level of passion and commitment”.
The iPhone maker’s boss added that in 2014 Apple’s worldwide tax rate was 26.1%.
Levin said European authorities understandably wanted to tax the earnings for Apple, which manufactures the popular iPhones.
Apple says it paid $400 million in taxes in Ireland in 2014, and another $400 million to the U.S.
Apple chief Tim Cook fumed: “Ireland is being picked on and this is unacceptable”.
Following an in-depth state aid investigation launched in mid-2014, the rulings endorsed a way to establish the taxable profits for two Irish incorporated companies of the Apple group (Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe), which did not correspond to economic reality. “We believe that makes us the highest taxpayer in Ireland that year”, Cook was quoted as saying. Apple, Ireland and the US all agree on this principle. “They do such incredible work for Apple and we’re moving forward with the planned investments”, he said. Apple was paying far less thanks to an agreement it made with the country back in the 1990s.
Cook was speaking in an interview with the Irish Independent just days after the EC demanded that Apple pay the Irish government some €13bn in back taxes. “We are obliged to … take decisions that are independent, based on our treaty, on our case law and the facts of the case, and can be checked by the European courts”.
Advertisement
US companies are supposed to pay federal taxes on their global profits, but the tax on money made overseas is only due when it’s brought back to the U.S.
