Apple must pay €13bn in unpaid taxes, court rules

Record EU tax order cannot be appealed by world’s richest company

Europe Apple (AP)

Apple must pay back €13 billion (£11bn) in unpaid taxes to Ireland, Europe’s top court has ruled.

The decision by the European Court of Justice, which cannot be appealed, follows a lengthy legal battle between the world’s richest company and the EU Commission.

The European Commission issued the order in 2016, saying that the iPhone maker benefited from two Irish tax rulings for over two decades that artificially reduced its tax burden to as low as 0.005 per cent in 2014.

Apple had said the record EU tax order defied reality and common sense. Ireland, whose low tax rates helped it to attract Big Tech to set up their European headquarters, had also challenged the EU ruling.

The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union sided with EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager.

“The Court of Justice gives final judgment in the matter and confirms the European Commission’s 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover,” the court said.

Apple said in a statement that it was “disappointmented” with the ruling.

“The European Commission is trying to retroactively change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income was already subject to taxes in the US,” a company spokesperson said.

“We always pay all the taxes we owe wherever we operate and there has never been a special deal.”

The ruling comes the day after Apple launched a brand new iPhone, Apple Watch and other hardware at its biggest event of the year.

Additional reporting from agencies.