[Swordmaker]

""The company believes the European Commission’s assertions are without merit," Apple said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday."

For the "state aid" to be illegal, it had to be offered as an incentive preferentially to specific, target companies and not be available to other companies. Apple claims it did not accept any such specific targeted tax benefits, using only the tax laws as written in Ireland, available to all companies in that nation. They have opened their books to the investigators.

[angry elephant]

Microsoft did their packaging in Ireland for years due to the low tax rate.

[angry elephant]

Microsoft did their packaging in Ireland for years due to the low tax rate.