EU court considers €13 billion that Ireland should receive from Apple

The European Commission has announced that it has referred the case over the €13 billion in Irish tax benefit for Apple to the European Court. Ireland has so far not asked for the money back from Apple, even though the Commission had instructed it to do so.

The Commission reports that the deadline for recovering the money has passed on January 3 and that Ireland has not taken any steps or received any part of the money even a year after the Commission’s decision. Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, says it is understandable if complex cases take longer, but in this case no progress has been made. She takes the view that Apple will continue to take advantage of the situation until the money is recovered. Ireland would not be ready until March of next year with the calculations of the final amount that Apple will have to pay back.

Vestager released the results of an investigation into Apple last August and said the company received illegal state aid in Ireland in the form of tax breaks. This gave the Cupertino company a competitive advantage over other companies. The company was also able to avoid tax on a large part of the profits from the sale of European products, because all sales went through Ireland, the Commission said. Due to two decisions by Ireland against Apple companies, the effective tax rate was 1 and 0.005 percent in 2003 and 2014, respectively.

Apple responded to the investigation at the time, saying that the Commission has “rewritten Apple’s history and ignored Ireland’s tax rules.” The company appealed the decision. Ireland did so too, but according to the Commission, this does not mean that the obligation to reclaim the tax benefit will lapse. The money could be placed in a separate account until a final decision by a judge. If Ireland also fails to comply with the judgment of the EU Court, the Commission can ask the court to impose a fine.

European Commission infographic