Apple will not have to pay up to 13 billion euros in taxes to the Irish government after a European court rejected the EU's claim. Four years ago, a European Commission (EC) investigation found that Apple had been able to avoid taxation of almost all profits generated in Europe by funneling revenue through Ireland. According to her, this meant that the company had paid a tax rate that had fallen to 0,0005% in 2014.
Apple Tax Ireland
Since other companies in Ireland were not subject to the same rate, the EC said that this actually amounted to state aid. It has been alleged that Apple had benefited from this deal for over two decades, but the EU could not require Ireland to recover for up to ten years. Apple and the Irish government appealed and were victorious. In its decision, the court stated that the EC had not provided sufficient evidence that Apple had received an advantage to the extent that it could be considered state aid. Dublin praised the development as a justification that it had not given the company an unfair advantage, while Apple said the question was not how much tax it had paid, but in which jurisdiction it had been paid. Ireland and Apple have a long-standing relationship, with the company opening a factory in Holyhill, County Cork in 1980.