Stefan Mileschin

Apple should only pay 0.005 per cent tax rate in EU

The European Union’s order to Apple to pay 13 billion euros in back taxes “defies reality and common sense” a European court was told yesterday.

The iPhone maker is appealing to Europe’s second highest court to overturn the European Commission’s 2016 ruling that it pay the record sum to Ireland. Ireland who believes its economy has benefited from investment by multinational companies attracted by low tax rates, is also challenging the Commission’s decision.

Apple accused the Commission of using its powers to combat state aid “to retrofit changes to national law”, in effect trying to change the international tax system and in the process creating legal uncertainty for businesses.

The EU executive dismissed the arguments, saying it was not seeking to police international tax laws and accused Ireland of not having done its homework when assessing Apple’s taxes.

Apple’s arguments at the General Court, Europe’s second-highest, came after the EU executive in 2016 said the tech giant benefited from illegal state aid due to two Irish tax rulings which artificially reduced its tax burden for over two decades.

Apple’s Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri led a six-strong delegation to the court where a panel of five judges will hear arguments over two days.

Apple’s lawyer Daniel Beard told the court that the Commission contends that essentially all of Apple’s profits from all of its sales outside the Americas must be attributed to two branches in Ireland.

He said the fact the iPhone, the iPad, the App Store, other Apple products and services and key intellectual property rights were developed in the United States, and not in Ireland, showed the flaws in the Commission’s case.

https://fudzilla.com/news/49413-appl...s-common-sense