Apple’s $15bn tax bill overturned

Apple won against the Court of European Justice (CJEU) against a €13bn ($15bn) tax bill to Ireland.

After a ruling back in 2016 against the tech giant, the EU’s general court stated that it had ‘annulled’ that decision due to the Commission had no evidence that Apple had broken any competition rules.

In a statement by Apple; “This case was not about how much tax we pay, but where we are required to pay it, We’re proud to be the largest taxpayer in the world as we know the important role tax payments play in society.”

The claim which was made by the European Commission, bought action after finding the Irish Government located all of its EU tax earnings to a head office that only existed on paper. It additionally claimed that this allowed the tech giant to avoid its €13bn tax on its revenues giving it a substantial advantage over its competitors in Ireland.

The Irish government made the argument to the EU Commission; that Apple should not have to repay the large amount tax, the loss was worth the potential to make the country more attractive to other large companies like Apple.

As Ireland has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe, the ruling is bad news for the European Commission crackdown of other alleged tax avoidance cases in the EU.

Apple is not alone in recent cases of alleged tax avoidance, last year a case was lost against Starbucks, as they allegedly owed $34m to the Netherlands in unpaid taxes. Other upcoming cases are due soon similarly against IKEA and Nike for unpaid taxes in Ireland