Apple Could Pay 'Total Political Crap' $14 Billion Tax Bill to EU After All

[MacRumors]

Apple has suffered a setback in its €13 billion ($14 billion) tax dispute with Brussels after an advisor to the EU's highest court said the company's victory in an earlier ruling should be thrown out (via Financial Times).

Giovanni Pitruzzella, advocate-general of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), said on Thursday that Apple's win in the EU General Court "should be set aside" because it is riddled with mistakes.

While such opinions by advocates-general are non-binding, the top EU tribunal follows such advice in the majority of cases, and it is set to issue its binding ruling in the coming months.

In 2020, the General Court said it supported the EU's right to investigate national tax arrangements, but it ultimately overturned a ruling by the European Commission stating that Apple should pay €13 billion euros in tax to the Irish government.

Following Apple's appeal, the EU's second-highest court said the EU authority, led by antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, had failed to show that Apple had received an illegal economic advantage in Ireland over tax.

Four years earlier, Apple CEO Tim Cook called the EC's original decision "total political crap" and said that Apple believed it would be reversed. "The decision is wrong, and it's not based on law or facts, it's based on politics. And I think it's very important that we stand up and say that very loudly," said Cook at the time.

However, Pitruzzella said on Thursday the General Court ruling had "committed a series of errors" and "failed to assess correctly the substance and consequences of certain methodological errors." Pitruzzella said the court needed "to carry out a new assessment" as a result.

Responding to the opinion of the advocates-general, Apple said on Thursday that the lower court "was very clear that Apple received no selective advantage and no State aid, and we believe that should be upheld."

An ECJ ruling is expected next year.

Article Link: Apple Could Pay 'Total Political Crap' $14 Billion Tax Bill to EU After All

 

[vegetassj4]

Uh oh. Tim might have to forgo 1/10 th of his stock options this year

 

[scheinderrob]

quite frankly we should start jailing apple executives for their behavior.

 

[joecomo]

let's put the popcorn aside and wait for the verdict

 

[joecomo]

Always remember: The EU gave us USB-C finally

 

[4odomi]

Apple has suffered a setback in its €13 billion ($14 billion) tax dispute with Brussels after an advisor to the EU's highest court said the company's victory in an earlier ruling should be thrown out (via Financial Times).

Giovanni Pitruzzella, advocate-general of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), said on Thursday that Apple's win in the EU General Court "should be set aside" because it is riddled with mistakes.

While such opinions by advocates-general are non-binding, the top EU tribunal follows such advice in the majority of cases, and it is set to issue its binding ruling in the coming months.

In 2020, the General Court said it supported the EU's right to investigate national tax arrangements, but it ultimately overturned a ruling by the European Commission stating that Apple should pay €13 billion euros in tax to the Irish government.

Following Apple's appeal, the EU's second-highest court said the EU authority, led by antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, had failed to show that Apple had received an illegal economic advantage in Ireland over tax.

Four years earlier, Apple CEO Tim Cook called the EC's original decision "total political crap" and said that Apple believed it would be reversed. "The decision is wrong, and it's not based on law or facts, it's based on politics. And I think it's very important that we stand up and say that very loudly," said Cook at the time.

However, Pitruzzella said on Thursday the General Court ruling had "committed a series of errors" and "failed to assess correctly the substance and consequences of certain methodological errors." Pitruzzella said the court needed "to carry out a new assessment" as a result.

Responding to the opinion of the advocates-general, Apple said on Thursday that the lower court "was very clear that Apple received no selective advantage and no State aid, and we believe that should be upheld."

An ECJ ruling is expected next year.

Article Link: Apple Could Pay 'Total Political Crap' $14 Billion Tax Bill to EU After All

ECJ is a kangaroo court, it has no resemblance to a court of law, it's run by the EU bureaucrats, to rule over any legal court rulings, for the benefit of EU's political agenda's.
Tim Cook on this occasion was spot on with his assesment 😡
Gangsters in suits & legal wigs springs to mind!

 

[4odomi]

Always remember: The EU gave us USB-C finally

Pro res log gave us the USB-C not the EU and the benefits of it are for the 5% of Apple users, for the rest of us it just means changing existing cables 😏

 

[joecomo]

Pro res log gave us the USB-C not the EU and the benefits of it are for the 5% of Apple users, for the rest of us it just means changing existing cables 😏

and high speed sync and raw video to external disk ...

 

[MacProFCP]

Is anyone surprised? The EU is one step short of communism with their blatant subjective promulgation against anything that appears to be success.

The corrupt lawmakers see money and think “hey, we should decide what they do with it…let’s take it!”

The EU is becoming so crazy that it may be best, financially, for Apple to just sunset the market entirely. Let’s see how long the EU will keep this up once Apple starts closing stores.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Wait a minute wtf. The equivalent of the attorney general can just say a court decided incorrectly and that’s it, it gets overturned? How is that democratic?

Edit: ok you can stop downvoting. This was a hot take, I know it's not that simple. Just seems strange that a court case that was decided, appealed, and upheld could be overturned by a higher court on the opinion of one person. Clearly I am not a lawyer, and I am DEFINITELY NOT an EU lawyer.

Crikey. Mods, I would be fine with you deleting this post.

 

[Wildkraut]

Told ya that the EU will tackle Apple & Co. shady tax circumvention methods.

 

[hans1972]

quite frankly we should start jailing apple executives for their behavior.

Apple cannot be the culprit since a company can't give state aid.

It's Ireland which might have given such illegal state aid. Apple is just an innocent receiver of such aid and must pay it back to Ireland if Ireland is found guilty.

 

[RokinAmerica]

Once a government, any government, smells cash, it is darn near impossible to get them to let go, regardless of reason. Kind of like when a "pro" sees a new john roll up the street.

 

[Wildkraut]

Wait a minute wtf. The equivalent of the attorney general can just say a court decided incorrectly and that’s it, it gets overturned? How is that democratic?

Hmm how is that democratic?

Let me try to show...

And then look at all the EU countries with "Full democracy"...

The Economist Democracy Index - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[hans1972]

Wait a minute wtf. The equivalent of the attorney general can just say a court decided incorrectly and that’s it, it gets overturned? How is that democratic?

It's an advice.

You have something similar in the US, although less formal, where the Supreme Court can call for the views of the solicitor general.

 

[heystu]

Well the EU needs to do something to make up the income deficit after the UK left 🤔

 

[cwt2nospam]

ECJ is a kangaroo court, it has no resemblance to a court of law, it's run by the EU bureaucrats, to rule over any legal court rulings, for the benefit of EU's political agenda's.

If that's what it takes to get multinational corporations to pay their taxes, so be it.

I'm huge Apple fan. I've been buying Macs since the 1980s, iPhones since 2007, and I've had a few iPads as well. My next purchase in each of these categories will be from Apple, but none of that means I'm in favor of any corporation paying a lower tax rate than working people, as happens far too often.

 

[Kiwamu]

Wait a minute wtf. The equivalent of the attorney general can just say a court decided incorrectly and that’s it, it gets overturned? How is that democratic?

[...] While such opinions by advocates-general are non-binding [...]

[...] non-binding [...]

 

[hans1972]

If that's what it takes to get multinational corporations to pay their taxes, so be it.

It's about Ireland giving illegal state aid or not. It isn't about Apple illegally avoiding paying tax in Ireland.

It'a reason why it's called "Commision v Ireland and Others".

 

[DownUnderDan]

Is anyone surprised? The EU is one step short of communism with their blatant subjective promulgation against anything that appears to be success.

The corrupt lawmakers see money and think “hey, we should decide what they do with it…let’s take it!”

The EU is becoming so crazy that it may be best, financially, for Apple to just sunset the market entirely. Let’s see how long the EU will keep this up once Apple starts closing stores.

You might want to do some reading on what communism actually is.

 

[toobravetosave]

Soon Apple google and Microsoft will be headquartered in a pile of flotsam on international waters

 

[CarAnalogy]

[...] While such opinions by advocates-general are non-binding [...]

[...] non-binding [...]

Finish the quoted sentence.

the top EU tribunal follows such advice in the majority of cases, and it is set to issue its binding ruling in the coming months

I realize it's not quite that simple, but I'm not aware of that policy applying in, for example, the US.

 

[playtech1]

I think the issue the EU has is really with Ireland rather than Apple, in that the Irish government went too far in offering an effective subsidy to entice Apple to its shores that was in breach of the EU state aid rules that aim (amongst other things) to stop EU member states competing with one another to bribe companies to base themselves there.

From the linked article it was alleged Ireland offered Apple a deal of 2% tax instead of its normal 12.5% tax.

From Wikipedia that deal would be State Aid - and so potentially illegal - if it met the following criteria:

1. "the use of state resources"
2. "the measure must confer an advantage to a certain undertaking"
3. "the advantage must be selective"
4. "the measure must distort competition"
5. "affect trade between member states".

At a high level if that kind of special tax discount was given it seems pretty clear that Ireland is in the wrong. Perhaps harsh though for Apple to be caught in the crossfire, but from the EU's perspective it was the recipient of the state aid and must now disgorge it.

 

[trusso]

No need to editorialize the titles, MacRumors. Just the facts will suffice.

 

[CarAnalogy]

It's an advice.

You have something similar in the US, although less formal, where the Supreme Court can call for the views of the solicitor general.

I'm clearly not a lawyer but had never heard of it working that way. I thought it was the other way around. The Attorney General can make all the recommendations they want, but once the Supreme Court says it, the only way around it is legislation. At least, that's what that piece of paper on the steps told me in song form so many years ago.