EU scores top court wins against Apple, Google

A company should be able to trust a nation state to be telling the truth on its tax policy. Surely the EU should have gone after the Irish tax authorities.

This opens the door for scams - an EU country offers a company a deal, it sets up there, only for the deal to be retrospectively withdrawn by the EU later and cash demanded.

"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," the court said in a statement.

So Ireland is fine with its laws, Apple is fine with its contract with Ireland, but out of Brussel comes an edict that says 'we the unelected dictatorcrats' decide what is illegal and the manner it is to be made legal...

EU, so over them.

Concluding a long-running legal battle, the European Court of Justice ruled that the iPhone maker must pay 13 billion euros ($14.3 billion) in back-taxes to Ireland.

"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," the court said in a statement.

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So the Republic of Southern Ireland tells iPhone you only need to pay this rate and then the EU interferes saying no, you must pay this rate.

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One of the most bitter legal battles between the European Commission and big tech, the Apple case dates back to 2016 when the EU's executive arm claimed Ireland allowed the iPhone maker to avoid billions of euros in taxes.

By the commission's calculations, Dublin allowed Apple to pay a tax rate of one percent of its European profits in 2003 which then dropped to 0.005 percent by 2014.

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Republic of Southern Ireland ALLOWS iPhone/Apple to pay a low tax rate.

iPhone/Apple thinks we will use the Republic of Southern Ireland as our main place.

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"This ruling exposes EU tax havens' love affair with multinationals. It delivers long-overdue justice after over a decade of Ireland standing by and allowing Apple to dodge taxes," said Chiara Putaturo at EU tax expert at anti-poverty organization.

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So the other members of the EU does not like the special offer given by Republic of Southern Ireland to iPhone/Apple, cry foul, as they do not get iPhone/Apple headquarters in their country.

So they punish iPhone/Apple just for deciding to use the country offering the best tax deal.

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Will the Republic of Southern Ireland be punished with billions of euros in fine/s for giving iPhone/Apple such low tax rate ?

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NOTE:

Ireland is two independent countries and saying "Ireland" gives the false impression there is only one country.

There are two countries that make up Ireland.

Northern Ireland

and

the Republic of Southern Ireland

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Ideally, these tech giants should be split in quarters or more. Too much power in one hand is no good for anyone.

There aint no such thing as "the Republic of Southern Ireland"

There is thing called "the Republic of Ireland". We usually just say Ireland. (Incidentally, it includes the north west of the island and the most northerly point on the island, Malin Head.)

Northern Ireland is not a country. It is part of the UK, like Scotland. It occupies the north east of the island of Ireland.

Well looks like there's an adult in the EU after all.

https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/97e481fd-2dc3-412d-be4c-f152a8232961_en

It will also be crucial to reduce the regulatory burden on companies. Regulation is seen by more than 60% of EU companies as an obstacle to investment, with 55% of SMEs flagging regulatory obstacles and the administrative burden as their greatest challenge