ECJ rules that Apple must pay Ireland €13bn in unpaid taxes 

The European Court of Justice has decided that the the European Commission was correct to demand that €13bn in “illegal” tax breaks for Apple should be repaid. 

In a judgement delivered this morning, Europe’s highest court rejected the annulment of the Apple/Ireland tax verdict and restored the European Commission’s original 2016 decision when the EU competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, concluded that Apple had benefited from billions worth of unfair tax breaks from the Irish state. 

Apple was found by the EU competition watchdog to have benefited from tax rulings from the Irish authorities that meant in 2014 it in effect paid a tax rate of 0.005%.  

Vestager ordered Ireland to recoup €13bn plus interest in the largest-ever tax order in the EU. 

In 2020, the European general court overruled that decision arguing that the EU executive had not proved that Apple derived a competitive advantage from the tax rulings.  

Vestager appealed against that judgment and The Court of Justice found today that the General Court erred when it ruled that the Commission had not proved sufficiently that the intellectual property licences held by two Apple companies, Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe, and related profits generated by sales of Apple products outside the United States, should have been allocated for tax purposes to the Irish branches. 

Social Democrats Finance Spokesperson Róisín Shortall says this government must now explain why it has spent eight years fighting this case. 

“I welcome today’s judgment of the European Court of Justice, which has reinstated the decision of the European Commission to impose a €13 billion tax penalty on Apple,” she said.
  
“This judgment reflects extremely badly on the Fine Gael-led government which opted to appeal this decision back in 2016.

“That government put corporate interests over the public interest and wasted the opportunity to invest some or all of this money in critical public services – like housing and healthcare. 
  
“This government, which has continued the legal fight, must now explain to the people why it has spent eight years fighting this case – when it could have had additional billions of euro at its disposal to build tens of thousands of affordable homes or invest in threadbare disability services. 
  
“This case also highlights the ability of corporate behemoths to avoid billions in tax payments all over the world – oftentimes, in full compliance with domestic legal arrangements. According to a conservative estimate from the OECD, multinationals can avoid up to $240 billion each year using base erosion and profit shifting. 
  
“Tax is not just for the little people or small and medium enterprises. Tax justice, and multinationals paying their fair share of tax, is of critical importance for both government revenues and social cohesion. 
  
“Instead of suing to defend the rights of multinationals to pay a pittance in tax, the government should be bolstering its efforts to ensure multinationals pay their fair share.” 

Aontú leader, Meath West TD and Finance Committee member Peadar Tóibín says he has written to the Chair of the Finance Committee John McGuiness requesting that the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure be brought before the Finance Committee immediately to explain their “costly strategy” to fight the legal acceptance of the €13billion in Apple Tax. 

“Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens fought the EU to prevent Irish citizens from legally receiving €13billion in tax,” he said.

“This is an astounding fact and begs the question, who is the Irish government working for.

“In whose interests is the Irish government operating. In this case its clear, the Irish government were not working in the interests of the Irish people.

“The opportunity cost of this forgone €13billion is astounding.

“It’s a equivalent of building 32,500 houses at today’s crazy prices. Its the equivalent of a half a dozen hospitals even at the grossly inflated government rate.         

“This unpaid tax was a result of a sweetheart deal between Irish governments and Apple.

“It meant that at a time when Irish workers were being crucified by income tax, some foreign direct investors used Ireland as a tax haven.

“Apple was charged a tax rate as low as 0.005%. Incredibly the Irish government spent over €8million fight against the receipt of €13billion”. 

“In a government that is world class in terms of waste of tax payer’s money, this must be the pinnacle of squander and misuse.

“Remember the during this period Ireland was desperate finance straits from the fall out of the bank bailout and later the €30billion Covid deficit.

“I am calling for the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public expenditure to be brought immediately before the Finance Committee to explain their shocking actions”.