EU judges definitively ruled in favor of the European Commission’s conclusion that the low taxes paid by the tech giant constituted an illegal subsidy.
Apple has lost a lawsuit of 13,000 million euros before him Court of Justice of the European Union for the low taxes he paid for years in Ireland. This is a surprising victory for Brussels in its campaign against sweetheart deals with multinationals.
The ruling, published this Tuesday, agrees with the European Commission and annuls a previous ruling of the lower General Court. Brussels pointed out that the very low corporate tax rates (0.005%) paid by the technology giant represented illegal aid.
“Ireland granted Apple illegal aid that Irelandis obliged to recover”declared the Court of Justice in a statement, issuing a “final ruling” on the matter.
Brussels’ battle against big technology
This is one of two victories today in Brussels’ battle against big technology, as Google lost another appeal against a €2.4 billion EU fine for favoring their own services.
This ends the career of Margrethe Vestager, whose dual term as EU antitrust chief ends in a couple of months. The Commission’s victory means that Apple must pay up to 13,000 million euros (or even more, with interest and costs) to the Irish Treasury.
The Commission’s initial conclusion, now confirmed, followed LuxLeaks’ revelations about tax rulings that they implicated Jean-Claude Junckerthe former Luxembourg leader who was then President of the EU Executive.
The performance of Vestager against large multinationalsmostly American, such as Starbucks, Fiat Chrysler and Amazon, earned the then president Donald Trump I would rate it of the EU’s “tax lady” who “really hates America”.
The case represented an unusual and controversial foray by Brussels into tax policy, which is normally set by national capitals, and The EU only intervenes if tax exemptions distort the internal market of the block.
The issue revolved around the treatment of the iPhone maker’s intellectual property revenues and also whether the Commission was correct in stating that those profits They were to be assigned to their European base in Ireland.
The General Court of the EU ruled against the Commission in 2020but, following the conclusions prepared before the Court of Justice last November, Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella questioned the legal reasoning of the first instance judges. In financial terms, it represents the biggest case of the EU tax campaign, which otherwise has not had great success in the courts.
The Commission lost the appeals filed against McDonald’s, Starbucks and Engie, although in a recent interview with the podcast Radio Schumann of ‘Euronews’Vestager argued that his crusade had resulted in a series of national and international tax reforms.
Despite the billions he was going to earn, The Irish Government opposed the Commission’s case; the country has become European center of several technology companies Americans.
Michael McGrath previously defended the company as Irish Finance Minister, and now will move to Brussels as European Commissionerwhose portfolio the president will announce Ursula von der Leyen in the next few days.
Apple expressed its “disappointment” over the decision
“Always we pay all the taxes we owe where we operate and there has never been special treatment“said a spokesperson for the company, adding that it is one of the largest taxpayers in the world.
“The European Commission is trying retroactively change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income was already subject to tax in USA“added the company, which argues that it has already paid 20 billion dollars (18 billion euros) in US taxes for the same benefits.
ADVERTISINGBut the sentence has already been applauded by tax activistswho have been calling for the closure of what they consider loopholes in corporate tax for some time.
“This sentence exposes the love affair between EU tax havens and multinationals“Chiara Putaturo, an EU tax expert at the charity Oxfam, said in a statement. “Justice is long overdue after more than a decade in which Ireland stood by and allowed Apple to avoid taxes. “.
The Commission and the Irish Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment, although VEstager plans to speak with journalists later.
