Dublin rebels, Apple is in revolt, Brussels is standing its ground : four months after the european Commission decision requiring the giant to repay 13 billion euros undue tax advantages in Ireland, the three parties have intensified Monday their position.
first, Ireland, which has been made public in the morning his line of defense : “The Commission has overstepped its powers and violated the sovereignty” of ireland regarding the tax on companies.
it is now over a month that this country has appealed the decision of Brussels on the “condemning” -paradoxically – to recover the 13 billion euros of tax, what it refuses to do.
At stake : the reputation of being “business friendly” Ireland, but also the headquarters of Apple in Europe, where the company records all gains realised on the Old Continent, as well as in Africa, the Middle East and India.
The american group employs 6,000 people, mainly in Cork, the second largest city of the Republic of Ireland, situated in the south.
But he pays too little tax, writes the Commission, because of a tax agreement past for years with the irish authorities that would have allowed him not to submit to the tax that a tiny part of the billions earned.
“Less than 50 euro tax for each million euros of profits” in 2014, according to the calculations of the european commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager.
The rest of the profits was, explained the Commission, placed in a “seat” is located outside of the country, a phantom, on which the irish State has refused to have a right to look.
“State aid” and therefore a brake to competition, had reached Brussels at the end of August after months of investigation, the details of which -a document of 130 pages – were made public Monday.
“The Commission does not have jurisdiction, according to the rules in regard to public aid, to substitute unilaterally its own point of view regarding the geographic scope of the tax policy of a member State to the member State itself,” said Ireland.
The EU “tries to rewrite the laws of ireland regarding the tax on companies”, has even criticized the ministry, which considers the investigation of the Commission has errors.
- years of procedure -
Apple -present in Ireland since the 80s – has ushered in mid-day, shortly after he officially appealed the decision : the european Commission has “undertaken a unilateral action and changed the rules retroactively, in defiance of decades of law, irish tax, us tax law and the global consensus on fiscal policy”.
Defence of the californian company : the “products and services” Apple is being “created and designed in the Usa”, they find their value in the United States, and it is logically in this country that the company should be taxed -not in Ireland, nor elsewhere in Europe.
“Apple is the largest taxpayer in the world, the United States and Ireland with a total tax rate of about 26%,” says the computer giant in a press release.
the fact Remains that the billions of profits not taxed in Ireland have, for the moment, not been in the United States.
Nothing illegal under irish law, but as long as Apple has not decided to repatriate this money to the United States, the amount escapes the tax. “These profits will be taxed in the United States”, assured Monday, a spokesman for the group.
“It is clear from the outset of this case that the result was known in advance,” says Apple, who has received in the day, the support of the u.s. Treasury.
The EU “will defend its position before the Court,” said Monday a spokesman for the Commission, now engaged with Dublin and Apple in a long procedure before the Court of justice of the european Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg.
It should last for years, at least two years just for a first decision from the court, not to mention a possible appeal.
19/12/2016 18:31:15 – Brussels (AFP) – © 2016 AFP
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