2 min

Tags in this article

, , ,

In August 2016, the European Commission decided that Apple had received unjustified tax benefits from the Irish government. For that reason, the Irish government had to claim 14 billion euros in overdue taxes from the American technology giant. Both Apple and the Irish Government are appealing against this, but in the meantime Ireland appears to have collected the full amount.

That’s what the Guardian newspaper reports today. The Irish Ministry of Finance started collecting taxes in the course of May. In the end, EUR 13.1 billion was transferred, together with EUR 1.2 billion in interest. Ireland has indicated that it is still appealing against the European Commission’s decision because it wants to be an attractive country for investment by foreign companies.

Low load

The Irish Minister of Finance, Paschal Donohoe, has indicated that the government fundamentally disagrees with the European Commission’s analysis. For this reason, attempts are still being made to reverse the committee’s decision. It will probably take a few more years before a European court reaches a final decision on the matter.

The crux of the matter lies in a tax deal that Ireland and Apple concluded in 1991. In the course of 2013, the European Commission launched an investigation into this matter, sending requests for information to the Irish authorities. The European Commission is allowed to collect taxes up to ten years ago, so the 2016 ruling concerned overdue tax payments between 2006 and 2016.

Apple and Ireland had reached an agreement whereby two of Apple’s subsidiaries in Ireland controlled the rights to Apple patents outside the United States. As a result, Apple paid only 1 percent tax on its profits in 2003 and only 0.005 percent in 2014. According to the European Commission, this deal was illegal and for this reason it was finally decided that Apple would have to pay the money.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.