By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU regulators on Tuesday demanded Apple to pay the Irish Government to 13.000 billion euros in taxes plus interest after failing a special agreement to obtain benefits through Ireland constituted illegal state aid.
the huge fine, 40 times higher than before the Commission to an undertaking in a similar case, could be reduced if other countries also require Apple to pay higher taxes, according to a press release from the European Commission.
Apple, which along with Ireland said he will appeal the sentence, he paid in Europe effective tax rate from 0.005 to 1.0 percent in 2003 for the profits from sales of its iPhones and other devices, the Commission said.
Ireland illegal tax advantages granted to Apple , which allowed him to pay substantially less tax than other businesses for many years, “said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, whose US activity on companies, mainly multinationals has infuriated Washington, which accuses Brussels of protectionism.
Amazon.com online marketeers or group of McDonald’s restaurants face investigations tax in Luxembourg, while StarbucksCorp coffee chain has been forced to pay up to 30 million euros to the Netherlands.
So far, the largest known penalty is a fine of 300 million euros this year imposed the Swedish engineering company Atlas Copco for unpaid taxes in Belgium. Other companies that were ordered to pay taxes in Belgium, many of them European, have not revealed the figures.
For Apple, whose profits of 18.000 billion last year were the highest ever recorded by a company, find some billions of dollars should not be an insurmountable problem. 13,000 million euros account for about 6 percent of the pile of cash the company.
In June, Apple said it had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities 231,500 million dollars, which 92.8 percent, or 214,900 million was in foreign subsidiaries. He paid 2,670 million dollars in taxes in the last quarter, with an effective tax rate of 25.5 percent, which left a net profit of 7,800 million dollars, according to company documents.
the Commission acknowledged in 2014 skip to Ireland international tax rules by allowing Apple hid tens of billions in profits from the tax authorities in exchange for keeping jobs. Apple and Ireland rejected the accusation.
“I am deeply at odds with the Commission,” said Irish Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, said in a statement. “The decision leaves me no choice but to ask cabinet approval to file an appeal,” he said.
“This is necessary to defend the integrity of our tax system, provide tax certainty to businesses and challenge the invasion of EU rules on state aid in the sovereign powers of the member states on taxes. “
Ireland added that the controversial tax system used in Apple’s case no longer applies and the decision had no effect on the corporation tax of 12.5 percent Ireland or another other companies with operations in the country.
Apple said in a statement that it is confident of winning the appeal. “The European Commission has he launched an effort to rewrite the history of Apple in Europe, ignore the tax laws of Ireland and change the international tax system in the process. The case of the Commission is not about how much you pay Apple tax, it is what government collects the money. It will have a profound and damaging effect on investment and job creation in Europe, “he said.
” REVERSE ENGINEERING “
When opened its investigation into Apple in 2014, the Commission said the Irish Government that the fiscal arrangements agreed in 1991 and 2007 with the company assumed state aid and might have violated EU rules.
the Commission said that agreements are “ingeniaron inversely” to ensure that Apple had a minimum tax in Ireland and the minutes of meetings between Apple and procurators Irish showed that the tax treatment of the company had been “motivated by considerations of employment” .
Apple employs 5,500 people, or about a quarter of its workforce in Europe, in the Irish city of Cork, where it is the largest private employer. He said that Ireland paid 12.5 percent of all profit generated in the country.
The Irish low tax rate has been a pillar of its economic policy for 20 years, attracting investors multinationals, whose staff is almost one of every 10 jobs in Ireland.
Some opposition MPs in Ireland have urged Dublin to raise the figure to say the Commission, but the main opposition party, Fianna Fail , whose support is needed for the development of laws minority government, he said he would support the appeal based on the information received by the Executive.
the United States Department of the Treasury issued a document last week It is saying that investigations into the EU out of international tax rules and would have a huge impact on American businesses. The Commission said it treats all enterprises equally
.
and 1.3 percent in the hotel Meliá (MC.) 
