WIKI
On 10 September 2024 the European Court of Justice set aside the judgment of the lower General Court, which previously overturned the Commission’s decision, by reasoning that it contained legal errors. The Court of Justice stated: “[ECJ] 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 European Commission found that corporate tax rates as low as 0.005% paid by the tech giant represented an unlawful subsidy. Specifically because other companies were not permitted to obtain the same tax arrangements. As a consequence Apple must pay €13 billion, excluding interest, to the Irish Treasury.
Member States cannot give tax benefits to selected companies – this is illegal under EU state aid rules.
The recovery order for €13 billion was an estimate subject to final ASI accounts. It covers the period 2004 to 2014 inclusive, as the commission is permitted to order a full recovery within a 10-year period from the start of an investigation....Apple will also owe interest penalties at the Irish Revenue penalty rate (was 8% in 2016), which would total circa €6 billion, giving a total recovery order of circa €20 billion.
It is specifically prohibited under Ireland’s own corporation tax code (Section 291A(c) of the Irish Taxes and Consolation Act 1997) to use the CAIA BEPS scheme for reasons that are not “commercial bona fide reasons” and in particular for schemes where the main purpose is “... the avoidance of, or reduction in, liability to tax”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple‘s_EU_tax_dispute
In my non-lawyer opinion, the EU is legally correct.
Except Apple wouldn’t be there without the tax break and now Ireland stands to profit on something they did not even ask for.
Its a bait and switch.
When I read about this, at the time it was set up, the area where the Apple facility was located suffered from high unemployment and the government wanted to give incentives to Apple to add jobs in the local area. The area was well off the beaten path and without tax incentives no company would locate a facility there.
In my non-lawyer opinion this was, and still is, a bona fide reason for the tax break. It happens all the time in the US and politicians take great credit for bringing major companies into their state or local area.
Plus, Apple cannot and did not change the local tax laws -- the government of Ireland did. If anyone needs to pay the EU the missing taxes, it should be the Irish Government. After all, Ireland got to tax the increased incomes of all the employees for all those many years, and it reduced their welfare roles. Apple bore higher costs of doing business due to lack of infrastructure and would never have located where they did without the tax incentives. If the EU makes Apple pay the missing taxes Apple is being penalized for bringing jobs to a depressed area. This may benefit the EU short-term, but it will be a cold day in hell before any major corporation believes a promise from any EU country.