The ruling on Apple’s tax affairs in Ireland was originally expected last Christmas, but was postponed. Today however, Bloomberg has posted on the European Commission’s probe on their tax affairs, citing EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager and suggesting that it won’t come anytime soon.
“Don’t hold your breath,” she told reporters in Brussels on Monday about the timing of decisions targeting Apple and online shopping giant Amazon.com Inc, whose tax affairs in Luxembourg are also under intense scrutiny. “I’m just warning you. No, we wait for the job being done thoroughly and with the quality that we want it to be done with,” she told reporters. “That is what decides the timeline.”
Apple and other American companies such as Amazon, McDonald’s, Starbucks, etc. are in hot water over their widespread tax avoidance in Europe. Brussels launched the probe two years ago accusing Apple of illegal tax arrangements with Ireland.
As previously reported, a preliminary review of the European Commission’s investigation has found at the first stage that Apple received illegal state aid from Ireland between 1991 and 2007, as Irish authorities conferred an advantage on Apple that was “granted in a selective manner.”
The second state is the currently ongoing investigation, which could end with a hefty bill for unpaid taxes for the aforementioned companies. A previous Bloomberg estimate says this may come to around $8 billion for Apple.
