The European Commission ruled Wednesday that Ireland had helped Apple artificially lower its tax bill for more than 20 years, assistance that it said constituted illegal state aid for the company.
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Some lawyers say that Apple’s arrangement was legal in Ireland and theoretically available to any company and so the California-based company could not have received a advantage that was selective – key factors in most state aid cases. A government spokesman said a motion to appeal the ruling will be presented to the Dail, the Irish parliament, on Wednesday. “Ireland did not give favorable tax treatment to Apple”, he added.
“This is not a decision against the United States of America”, said Juncker.
However, European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has insisted it was wrong for Apple to have paid the equivalent of 1% corporation tax on its European profits in 2003 and that this was down to 0.0005% by 2014.
“Member states can not give tax benefits to selected companies – this is illegal under European Union state aid rules”. Some analysts say the EU wants to hobble USA technology companies in an effort to build viable European competitors.
Both appeals are expected to take several years.
Brussels launched an inquiry three years ago into tax breaks that Ireland offered iPhone-maker Apple, in the latest of a series of anti-trust cases targeting major USA corporations that have also included Starbucks, McDonald΄s and Amazon. The UK declined comment.
The cabinet decision was unanimous, Noonan said, but the issue itself has sparked a heated discussion among politicians.
Apple had $231.5 billion in cash as of its quarterly earnings report last month.
At the same time there is massive concern that Ireland would suffer reputational damage to an economy heavily reliant on multinationals if it does not fight Apple’s corner. Dublin has just over two months to lodge an appeal.
Cook told Irish broadcaster RTE that he is confident the ruling will be overturned.
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“I feel like Ireland stuck with Apple when it wasn’t easy to stick with Apple and now we’re sticking with Ireland”, he said.
