LUXEMBOURG/DUBLIN (Reuters) – Apple scored a major win on Wednesday as Europe’s second-highest court turned down an EU order for the iPhone maker to pay 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in Irish back taxes, dealing a blow to the bloc’s efforts to crack down on sweetheart tax deals.
In its order 4 years ago, the European Commission stated Apple benefited from illegal state aid by means of 2 Irish tax rulings that synthetically minimized its tax burden for over 20 years – to as low as 0.005%in 2014.
” The General Court annuls the contested choice due to the fact that the Commission did not prosper in revealing to the requisite legal standard that there was a benefit for the purposes of Post 107( 1) TFEU1,” judges stated, referring to EU competitors rules.
They stated the EU executive was wrong to state Apple’s 2 Irish subsidiaries – Apple Sales International (ASI) and Apple Operations Europe (AOE) – had actually been granted a selective economic benefit and, by extension, state aid.
Apple invited the ruling, saying the case was not about just how much tax it pays, however where it