“This is a decision based on the facts of the case”, she told a news conference at European Union headquarters. Here is the truth: “in that year we paid $400m to Ireland and that was based on the statutory rate of 12.5 per cent”.
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“We provisioned several billion dollars for the USA for payment for as soon as we repatriate it, and right now I would forecast that repatriation to occur next year”, Cook said in an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE news.
That is just £50 in taxes on every £1m of profit. “We are completely committed to Ireland”.
Apple paid taxes at the 12.5% rate – a total of $400 million – in 2014, he said. “This is a decision based on the facts of the case”.
Writing for the Guardian, Kroes attacked Tuesday’s ruling by Margrethe Vestager, her successor as Europe’s top competition watchdog.
“It’s maddening, it’s disappointing, it’s clear that this comes from a political place, it has no basis in fact or in law”, he added.
So, why doesn’t the EU Commission publish the whole decision? Doing it this way doesn’t seem like the right approach to me.
The BBC has looked at some of Mr Cook’s key claims to see if they were fair. Vestager said: “The enforcement part of the competition portfolio does not really fit into any political picture”.
“We always have the courts to keep us in a straight line based on facts”.
“I have no idea where the number came from”.
The Government still has not decided if it will appeal the Apple ruling.
The ratings firm said its A+ rating on Ireland, which is four levels below its top-notch AAA stance, is unaffected by the commission’s decision, which Taoiseach Enda Kenny is trying to get Cabinet approval to appeal.
That is plausible – Apple is the world’s largest company by market value and does employ about 6,000 workers in Ireland.
The US has also weighed in on the case. Last week the treasury department warned that it would “consider its options.”
He again asserted that Apple pays a worldwide tax rate of 26.1% and that the 0.005% effective tax rate mentioned by the European Commission was a “false number”.
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“In the US, states can fall all over themselves to offer subsidies and loopholes, but that is exactly what is illegal in Europe”, said Edward D. Kleinbard, professor at the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California and a former chief of staff to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. She added that she was looking forward to meeting Lew in person in Washington later this month. Tax breaks from Luxembourg for Amazon.com Inc. and McDonald’s Corp. are also under investigation.
