Ireland is wasting millions in legal fees to overturn European Commission ruling over Apple tax ruling

unsplash-logoAlexandr Bormotin

It has been revealed the Irish state has, so far, spent millions in legal fees to try and overturn the European Commission ruling over Apple’s tax ruling.

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​Recently, Apple started paying back the 14 billion euros in illegal tax benefits that Ireland gave the American company. This is thanks to a long legal battle against the European Commission, who ended up taking the Irish state to court. But not all things are going as well as expected. Sure, Apple is indeed paying the money as asked, but Ireland has yet to accept it, and the lawsuit is still ongoing.

In total, Apple has so far payed back some 9 billion euros, and it is expected that the 14 billion will be fully paid by the end of the year. But, meanwhile, the legal battle to try and overturn the European Commission ruling is still ongoing, and is costing the Irish state millions, all to try and give back the tax to Apple.

So far, since 2013, the Irish state has spent (more like wasted) more than 4.5 million euros in legal fees. To this, we have to add what was paid in other years, which quickly increases the total to close to 6 million euros. The account holding the tax also comes with costs, estimated at around 1 million euros.

Obviously, not everybody is happy with the current situation. Some people are questioning why the Irish state is wasting millions on defending a tax regime for an US corporation, while at the same time not being able to spend money in other sectors such as health and housing. 

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