As expected, Apple has fully paid back to Ireland the 14 billion euros in unpaid tax.
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After the investigation of the European Commission that concluded that Ireland had given illegal tax benefits to the American company Apple, and after taking the country to court for this one to recover the amount, it has now been announced Apple fully paid back the requested tax.
Ireland started recovering the unpaid tax in May of this year, 2018. Due to the pending appeal against the decision of the European Commission, the money has been paid into a blocked account, until the case reaches a conclusion. This could easily take a few years. The Irish government still claims that Apple did not receive preferential treatment. Apple claims the same.
The current lawsuit to overturn the ruling from the European Commission has so far costed the Irish government some 6 million euros, with an extra million spent to manage the account holding the 14 billion euros. In total, Apple paid back 13 billion euros in unpaid tax, plus an additional 1.2 billion euros in interests.
The European Commission confirmed they would study whether to cancel the pending lawsuit against the Irish state, as specified in the past.
There seems to be some confusion surrounding these 14 billion euros. It seems some people think this money will be kept by the European Commission to pay the “bureaucrats”, but this is not the case. The 14 billion euros are not a fine, they are unpaid tax, and therefore, this money should go to the Irish state, not the European Commission. With the legal action taken by Ireland, it’ll take years before we know whether Ireland has to keep the money or if Apple will get it back.
Now, the joke going around is that the reason Apple’s new iPhones are as expensive as they are (1 600€) is because they have to get back that money somehow.
More on this subject:
- Ireland is wasting millions in legal fees to overturn European Commission ruling over Apple tax ruling (19/09/2018)
- Apple has paid 9 billion euros out of the 14 owed in tax to Ireland (9/08/2018)
- Apple reaches 1 trillion dollars in market capitalization (5/08/2018)
- Apple starts paying back tax in Ireland (21/05/2018)
