EU says it may withdraw court case if Ireland recovers full $16B from Apple

Posted:
in General Discussion
The European Commission is willing to withdraw its court case against the Irish government for failing to collect some $16 billion in back taxes from Apple -- but only if the country collects the full amount, the E.U.'s Competition Commissioner said in an interview.




"In our opinion, it has taken too long," Margrethe Vestager told CNBC. "But from what I hear from the Irish, they are getting there. So, of course, we hope that soon, the recovery can happen in full, because if that happens we will withdraw the complaint that we have filed with the courts."

The Irish government recently said that "over 95 percent" of its tax calculations are finished, and that it's hoping to submit the final tally to the Commission "before the end of April." The money was originally supposed to be collected by January 2017.

The Commission first ordered Ireland to collect back taxes in August 2016, charging that for years the country had extended preferential tax treatment, even reverse-engineering rules on the fly for Apple's sake. By E.U. law, benefits extended to one company must be available to all others.

Ireland has denied any wrongdoing, and Apple has insisted that it simply follows the laws of where it operates. The Commission says though that Irish tax rates on Apple's European profits went as low as 0.005 percent in 2014, far below Ireland's already low 12.5 percent corporate tax.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 31
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    Apple should just move out of Ireland since its Ireland that actually fracked them by promising something they could not deliver.
    racerhomie3
  • Reply 2 of 31
    foggyhill said:
    Apple should just move out of Ireland since its Ireland that actually fracked them by promising something they could not deliver.
    Where will they go? Ireland, Cyprus and Malta are the only countries in the EU with the preferable taxations. Ireland is big enough to afford expanding operations.
    jony0
  • Reply 3 of 31
    EU vultures.
    rob53jbdragonracerhomie3
  • Reply 4 of 31
    EU vultures.
    I know, how dare they enforce the rules that Ireland signed up to by joining the EU. Who do they think they are!? :trollface: 
  • Reply 5 of 31
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,239member
    EU vultures.
    Agree, especially after they say they’ll drop court proceedings. Apple and Ireland should call the EU’s bluff and go to court as long as the court isn’t in bed with EU commissioners. 
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 6 of 31
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    lmasanti said:
    Is this the reason or it is that when going on trail, the court will reject the case?
    The EU is the court. 
  • Reply 7 of 31
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,108member
    EU vultures.
    And . . . cue the Euro-bashers.  Do you have an automatic notification for whenever the EU or an EU country is mentioned so you can post something negative?

    Do you know of any other country in the world where such a low tax rate as Apple was getting is allowed? I'm really curious to know.
    singularitymuthuk_vanalingampropodcaladanian
  • Reply 8 of 31
    I love it.  This would be like me suing you for a million dollars and then coming out and saying "if you pay me a million dollars, I'll drop the case."  How is that news?  
    slprescott
  • Reply 9 of 31
    vannygee said:
    foggyhill said:
    Apple should just move out of Ireland since its Ireland that actually fracked them by promising something they could not deliver.
    Where will they go? Ireland, Cyprus and Malta are the only countries in the EU with the preferable taxations. Ireland is big enough to afford expanding operations.
    The Netherlands is as well. Many large companies have PO Box offices there.

  • Reply 10 of 31
    Apple should fight this. 

    Otherwise, it's going to be start of a drip-drip-drip extortion racket.
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 11 of 31
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    EU vultures.
    Like all socialist dictatorships the EU doesn’t want to run out of other people’s money. Gotta keep up the nanny-state charade.
  • Reply 12 of 31
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,108member
    lkrupp said:
    EU vultures.
    Like all socialist dictatorships the EU doesn’t want to run out of other people’s money. Gotta keep up the nanny-state charade.
    Socialist dictatorship?  Do you have any facts to base this on or are you just another one who likes to rant and make baseless allegations?

    And have you seen any democracies lately?  I haven't.  I mean the kind where people have a say and politicians listen to them.
    singularitymuthuk_vanalingampropodmac_dogphilboogie
  • Reply 13 of 31
    Take your money back to US where it belongs except to California 
  • Reply 14 of 31
    rob53 said:
    EU vultures.
    Agree, especially after they say they’ll drop court proceedings. Apple and Ireland should call the EU’s bluff and go to court as long as the court isn’t in bed with EU commissioners. 
    Apple is going to court.  The money is going into a trust account as Apple and Ireland both expect Apple to prevail.  
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 15 of 31
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,301member
    I just find this strange. The Country made a deal with Taxes on what they wanted to collect. They don't want this 16 billion. They're on Apple's side, and the EU is forcing them to collect it. The EU will do pretty much anything to get they hands on very large sums of American company's money.
    SpamSandwichentropys
  • Reply 16 of 31
    Apple should fight this. 

    Otherwise, it's going to be start of a drip-drip-drip extortion racket.
    Yep. Politics means never having to abide by legally binding agreements. Just pass new laws!
  • Reply 17 of 31
    noelosnoelos Posts: 126member
    jbdragon said:
    I just find this strange. The Country made a deal with Taxes on what they wanted to collect. They don't want this 16 billion. They're on Apple's side, and the EU is forcing them to collect it. The EU will do pretty much anything to get they hands on very large sums of American company's money.
    I’m sort-of on Apple/Ireland’s side on this because I don’t think Apple were offered a sweetheart deal (all international corporations get the same very sweet deal - you can argue separately whether that’s fair)

    You should be aware, however, that (a) Ireland is part of the EU by choice and is signed up to its rules & institutions and (b) the money will not go to the EU but to the Irish exchequer.

    This is about the EU forcing Ireland to play on a level playing field with other EU members (as they see it).
    propod
  • Reply 18 of 31
    Rayz2016 said:
    lmasanti said:
    Is this the reason or it is that when going on trail, the court will reject the case?
    The EU is the court. 
    Actually not. As I understand it, the tax determination thing was done by the European Commission but there is an appeal in process to the court, which is separate. Essentially, Apple is suing the EU for return of its money (and Ireland agrees).
  • Reply 19 of 31
    fred1 said:
    EU vultures.
    And . . . cue the Euro-bashers.  Do you have an automatic notification for whenever the EU or an EU country is mentioned so you can post something negative?

    Do you know of any other country in the world where such a low tax rate as Apple was getting is allowed? I'm really curious to know.
    Apple made a completely legal and binding agreement with Ireland. If Ireland (allegedly) violated EU law, that is their fault, not Apple’s.
  • Reply 20 of 31
    fred1 said:
    EU vultures.
    And . . . cue the Euro-bashers.  Do you have an automatic notification Gyfor whenever the EU or an EU country is mentioned so you can post something negative?

    Do you know of any other country in the world where such a low tax rate as Apple was getting is allowed? I'm really curious to know.
    Apple made a completely legal and binding agreement with Ireland. If Ireland (allegedly) violated EU law, that is their fault, not Apple’s.
    Apart from the charge is that the agreement was not legal from 2007. Any previous agreement became null and void at that point and thus the rate Apple paid became illegal state aid.
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