EU antitrust officers say the court erred when it scrapped their order for Apple to pay 13 billion euros or $15.7 billion in Irish taxes, according to Reuters. The General Court said the EU did not meet the requisite legal standard to show Apple had enjoyed an unfair advantage.
- The EU Commission claimed in 2016 that two Irish tax rulings had artificially reduced Apple’s tax burden for over two decades, which in 2014 was as low as 0.005%.
- The EU antitrust authority now claims that the decision by the General Court “examines the functions performed by the Irish branches in justifying the attribution of the Apple IP licences to them,” which constitutes contradictory reasoning.
- The EU says the General Court did not properly consider the structure and content of the decision and the Commission’s writer submissions.
- Apple has defended itself, relying on the lower tribunal’s ruling as it considers to have abided by the law in Ireland and everywhere it operates.
- The European Commission has strongly cracked down on aggressive tax planning by multinationals and has so far won a case against Fiat Chrysler.
- The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is expected to hold a hearing on the case in the coming months.
Apple stock is currently gaining. AAPL: NASDAQ is up 1.63%
