“We are not going to let an invalid ruling, a politically based ruling, affect our deep commitment to Ireland”.
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Ireland’s Financial Minister Michael Noonan said he “disagreed profoundly” with the Commission’s ruling that will force Apple to pay $14.5 billion in back taxes to the country, according to Reuters. “Apple now has to repay the benefits”. Last year, European Union regulators ordered the Netherlands to collect $34 million in back taxes from Starbucks Corp.
He said: “There are other possibilities too, but I think it’s clear that there is a desire to harmonise tax rates across the EU. Apple has always been about doing the right thing”, he added.
“If the government chooses not to accept the 13 billion euros at a time when they have stated the money is not there for other spending needs, it could undermine them in the eyes of the public and weaken their position”, he said.
Cook added that the EC is trying to “rewrite Apple’s history in Europe, ignore Ireland’s tax laws and upend the worldwide tax system in the process”. “There is no reason for it in fact or in law”.
This has in turn enraged Apple Inc and the Republic of Ireland.
“Using the Commission’s theory, every company in Ireland and across Europe is suddenly at risk of being subjected to taxes under laws that never existed”, read the statement.
On Tuesday, Vestager said that the European Commission’s two-year investigation had found Apple guilty of receiving illegal state aid from Ireland thanks to so-called sweetheart tax deals in 1991 and 2007.
The Spanish newspaper believes that the Apple case highlights the need to move towards European tax harmonisation.
The EU’s focus on past taxes is “unbelievable”, Cook said, adding that it was “fair” to have a discussion about the company’s future tax liabilities.
He also rejected the EC claim that Apple paid just 0.005% tax in Ireland in 2014. However, in a separate radio interview he promised to boost tax payments by repatriating billions of dollars in global profits to the United States next year.
Tim Cook told Irish state network RTE in an interview broadcast Thursday that the money, part of profits from 2014, should be brought back to the USA next year.
All of Apple’s business outside of the Americas is conducted through Ireland, which has the second-lowest corporate tax rate in Europe.
Cook said Apple was committed to expanding its operations in Ireland despite the ruling. “This is necessary to defend the integrity of our tax system, to provide tax certainty to business, and to challenge the encroachment of European Union state aid rules”.
Ireland was ordered to collect up to $14.5 billion in back taxes, plus interest.
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Apple chief Tim Cook has gone on the offensive against a “maddening” tax ruling imposed by the European Commission which puts it on the hook for as much as $13bn in back dated tax.
