U.S. Government to Reportedly Intervene in Apple’s EU Tax Appeal

Citing a source familiar with the matter, a Reuters report is claiming that the U.S. government is seeking to intervene in Apple’s appeal against an EU order to pay back up to $14.8 billion in Irish taxes.

The iPhone maker took its case to the court in December after the EU Commission issued the record tax demand saying that Apple won “sweetheart tax deals” from the Irish government which amounted to illegal subsidies.

Obama administration had criticised the decision, saying that the European Union was helping itself to cash that should have ended up in the United States. However, the Trump administration has so far not said anything in public about the case. 

“I can confirm the United States filed an application with the European Union General Court to intervene in the case involving the retroactive application of state aid rules to Apple,” said the source, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. The General Court is expected to hear the case in late 2018, another source with knowledge of the matter said.

In addition to Apple, Amazon and McDonald’s are also in the EU crosshairs over their tax deals with Luxembourg.