European Court Strikes Down Order For Apple To Repay $16BN In "Illegal" Tax Benefits
European Court Strikes Down
Order For Apple To Repay $16BN In "Illegal" Tax Benefits
by Tyler DurdenWed,
07/15/2020 - 06:23
As Margrethe Vestager ramps
up another round of anti-trust actions against the biggest American tech
behemoths, a European judge has just dealt her a major setback while
simultaneously robbing Ireland of tens of billions of euros in corporate tax
revenue.
According to the
FT, EU judges have quashed a European Commission order demanding that Apple
pay back €14.3 billion ($16.4 billion) in taxes to Ireland in a landmark ruling
that deals a big blow to competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s efforts
to crack down on low-tax regimes in the bloc.
In what was a heavily covered
decision back in 2016 when it was first handed down, Vestager ruled in 2016
that Ireland must
claim back €13 billion ($14.8 billion) in "illegal" tax incentives.
On Wednesday, the EU’s second
highest court ruled that Vestager failed in “showing to the requisite
legal standard” that Apple received a material economic advantage from the
tax arrangement.
Rather than being a
"sweetheart deal", Apple simply benefited from the laws as they were
written, as the company argued back in 2016.
"The General Court
considers that the commission did not prove, in its alternative line of
reasoning, that the contested tax rulings were the result of discretion
exercised by the Irish tax authorities."
The EU Commission had alleged
that Ireland gave Apple a "preferential" deal that wasn't available
to competitors which allowed the tech giant to pay less than 1% in corporate
taxes.
The EU now has two months and
10 days to appeal, but the commission is likely to appeal and the case will be
heard by the European Court of Justice, which will issue a final ruling on the
case.
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