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 US next year.
Advertisement
“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. “It is an integral part of the company”, Cook said.
“When you’re accused of doing something that is so foreign to your worth, it brings out an indignation in you, and that’s how we feel”.
LONDON (AP) – Apple’s chief executive says the company has put aside “several billion dollars” to pay tax liabilities in the United States as it repatriates some of its huge overseas earnings.
“I know what we are obliged to do and that is to take decisions that are independent, based on the treaty, the fact of the case and can be checked by the European courts”, Vestager said. Apple and its low tax bills have suddenly become an avatar of U.S. interests, and there is already speculation that Facebook could be the next tech giant to be targeted by European regulators.
It’s been found that Apple had been benefitting from illegal tax profits and because of this the European Commission instructed Ireland to recover the criminal aid from Apple and the amount will come to around $14.5 billion.
“Ireland and Apple have acted not only in the law, but did what was right”.
Ireland was ordered to collect up to $14.5 billion in back taxes, plus interest.
Apple is just the latest USA company to be targeted. This would strike a devastating blow to the sovereignty of European Union member states over their own tax matters, and to the principle of certainty of law in Europe.
In a statement on Tuesday Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said: “I disagree profoundly with the commission’s decision”.
Cook says the $400 million was based on Ireland’s 12.5% corporate rate.
“It’s like playing a sports game and winning the championship and then finding out the goals are worth less than you thought they were”, he said. “It lacks any level of fairness”.
Authorities here are adamant that Ireland did no wrong when it taxed Apple’s Irish branches on their comparatively miniscule Irish sales profits during that period. The company opened its first factory there in 1980 and is breaking ground on an $800-million data center. “Ireland is being picked on and this is unacceptable”, Cook said.
Advertisement
Cook added that his company “has nothing to apologize” for and that the Irish government had “done absolutely nothing wrong”, saying that Dublin was being “picked on”.
