Until The Pips Squeak

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Apple’s European headquarters in Holyhill, Cork

Sky News reports:

A preliminary finding by the European Commission has found that Ireland provided illegal state aid to tech giant Apple for more than 20 years. It said it has doubts that two “sweetheart” tax deals agreed in 1991 and 2007 between Apple and Ireland are compatible with the internal market of the European Union.

In a statement, the European Commission said: “Accordingly, the commission is of the opinion that through those rulings the Irish authorities confer an advantage on Apple. That advantage is obtained every year and ongoing. At this stage, the commission has no indication that the contested measure can be considered compatible with the internal market”. It added: “The commission’s preliminary view is that the tax ruling of 1991 and of 2007 in favour of the Apple group constitute state aid.”
The Irish government has already responded and said: “As this is an ongoing legal process, Ireland will not be commenting further on any individual aspects of this case.”

Read the European Commission’s decision in full here

EU Probe Slams Ireland Over Apple Tax Deals (Sky News)

Pic: Irish Apple Blog

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22 thoughts on “Until The Pips Squeak

  1. Atticus

    The EC can direct the government to take steps to recover the money which should have been paid. That will be interesting!

  2. Atticus

    From the Commission website:-

    “Article 108(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) requires Member States not only to notify State aid measures to the Commission before their implementation, but also to await the outcome of the Commission’s investigation before implementing notified measures. If either of those obligations is not fulfilled, the State aid measure is considered to be unlawful. If, following a formal investigation procedure the State aid measure is considered incompatible with the internal market, the Commission will require the Member State to take all necessary measures to recover the aid from the beneficiary in accordance with national procedures (negative decision with recovery).”

      1. Atticus

        Yes. It might possibly pay off our national debt? Maybe that’s what the Commission is thinking. Why are we bailing them out when apple could pay?

  3. Kolmo

    All the tax that was ‘Avoisioned’ could pay for the new Water Tax, or pay newly qualified nurses more than 6.50 per hour, or build a state of the art mental health facility, or homeless facilities, literacy schemes, upgrading of schools…you know, stuff the government should be doing to benefit society..pigs

  4. Ray Luna

    It’s not a decision but an announcement of an investigation. A long way to go yet before anything is proven.

    1. Atticus

      Who are you shilling for? The investigation was announced in June. This is a preliminary finding, not an announcement of an investigation.

  5. munkifisht

    Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa, maybe you should be giving all the known facts rather than just saying we’re the only ones in trouble for cavorting behind the bike sheds with Apple. The same questions are being asked about Luxembourg and The Netherlands. The only reasons Ireland are singled out are

    A) It involves the darling of over-hyped technology, Apple and
    B) The UK f***in despises Ireland for being able to attract overseas investment that traditionally would have gone to them.

    And while we’re on it, if the rest of Europe isn’t happy about how we tax companies, screw them. They don’t really have a say in how we set up our tax structure. Do you really think the UK or France or Germany is pissed that these companies are paying less in tax, or that these companies are setting up shop in Ireland and not in their backyard. Say what you like, but Ireland is in a state of recovery at the moment and that may well be because of these tax breaks.

    Personally I’d like to see us tax these guys a little harder, but d’ye know what, it’s our business, not Europe’s.

    1. Casey

      The UK f***in despises Ireland for being able to attract overseas investment that traditionally would have gone to them.

      Eh no. The UK has the city of London — all mostly old UK businesses. The UK has Canary Wharf, decentralised location of all the world’s major banks. In terms of terminology, the Microsoft site in Reading is bigger and has more centralised administration and fincance functions than the Ireland branch. They have Cisco, Yahoo …. oh fffs, the list is massive.

      What do Ireland have? The companies who want to take advantage of the soft tax breaks given to them to establish an oversees HQ with minimum staff to avoid paying taxes at home. (Facebook, Google and Apple, howya)

      Jealous, yeah I am sure the worry of those companies locating in Ireland keeps David Gauke and George Osborne conspiring how to get a bit of THAT action until the small hours of the morning.

      1. smoothlikemurphys

        “to establish an oversees HQ with minimum staff to avoid paying taxes at home. (Facebook, Google and Apple, howya)”

        Minimum staff?
        Google: 2,600 employees in Ireland
        Facebook: 1000 employees in Ireland
        Apple: 4,000 employees in Ireland

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