Photo by zhang kaiyv on Unsplash
A senior MEP says the outcome of a high profile court case on Tuesday was a “landmark victory” for the EU.
The comments come after Europe’s top court backed the EU crackdown against Apple’s Irish tax deal and Google’s anti-competitive practices in two cases.
Apple was told to pay €13bn in unpaid taxes to Ireland by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
This comes after the European Commission accused Ireland of giving Apple illegal tax advantages eight years ago.
A separate ECJ ruling on Tuesday also concluded a case with Google, with the company ordered to pay a fine of €2.4bn fine for alleged market dominance abuse.
EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager welcomed the judgments.
The anti trust official said, “This is a huge win for European citizens and tax justice.”
She also praised the Google judgment as a win for “digital fairness.”
In 2016, the European Commission first ordered Apple to pay €13 billion in back taxes to Ireland, saying that the iPhone maker benefited from two Irish tax rulings for over two decades that artificially reduced its tax burden to as low as 0.005% in 2014.
The outcome of the court hearing on Apple’s tax practices in Ireland has been greeted with delight by a senior MEP.
Kira Peter-Hansen, Greens/EFA First Vice Chair of the of the FISC Committee, said, “This ruling is a landmark victory for the tax justice, which shows that member states cannot continue the race to the bottom corporate tax policies that undermine European unity and social cohesion.”
She added, “Big tech companies like Apple should not be able to exploit their market power and avoid paying their fair share to society. Now we need to further harmonise tax rules in the EU to end tax abuse by multinationals, especially big tech.”
The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union agreed with the Commission in its case against Apple.
The ECJ said its decision on the matter was final and that Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover.
Judges noted, “The Court of Justice gives final judgment in the matter and confirms the European Commission’s 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover.”
Apple, in a statement, said it was disappointed with the decision and accused the European Commission of trying to retroactively change the rules.
It added, “This case has never been about how much tax we pay, but which government we are required to pay it to. We always pay all the taxes we owe wherever we operate and there has never been a special deal.”
“The European Commission is trying to retroactively change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income was already subject to taxes in the US.”
“We are disappointed with today’s decision as previously the General Court reviewed the facts and categorically annulled this case.”
