Apple will not have to pay 13 billion in taxes not collected in Ireland

A ruling by the European Court of Justice quashed the decision of the Commission for state aid and tax breaks.

(Photo by Budrul Chukrut / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images) Apple snatches a victory against the Antitrust Authority European Commission on the 13 billion back taxes to be paid in Ireland contested by Apple by the European Commission. To say it is a sentence of the European Court of Justice that annulled the Brussels decision to condemn the Colossus of Cupertino to the restitution of what had been considered by the Authority as an illegitimate state aid passing from a facilitated taxation.

According to the judges of the European court, the Commission has not been able to prove that the agreements between the company and the Irish tax authorities actually constituted aid and an anti-competitive advantage for Apple. Furthermore, according to the sentence, "the Commission has failed to demonstrate methodological errors in the disputed tax ruling which would have led to a reduction in Apple's taxable profits in Ireland."

The story dates back to 2016, when the European Antitrust, chaired by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, had deemed the tax treatment that Ireland had agreed in 1991 and 2007 with the two subsidiaries Apple Sales International and illegitimate respectively. Apple Operations Europe, and which provided for a rate lower than 1% of profits made in Europe.

The Union had considered that the treatment as a kind of state aid that would benefit the company, and demanded the return of over 13 billion euro of taxes not paid plus 1.3 billion of interest. From the outset, however, Dublin was opposed to the decision of Brussels, noting that, in reality, the two subsidiaries of irish do not have the ability to make strategic decisions and therefore should be taxed only on the profits arising from these choices, taken in the United States .

With the judgment of 15 July, the Court of justice of the european Union therefore gives reason to Dublin, and also highlights the fact that the Commission has failed to prove that the behaviour of the irish tax authorities is discretionary and intended to benefit Apple, thus causing distortions in the internal market of the Union.

Now the Commission will have two months to appeal against the decision of the european Court, but certainly this judgment represents a shot notable for the community authorities in a delicate moment in which cyclically continues to reappearance in Europe the discussion on a web tax only on the income and services of the giants in technology in the countries of the Union.

From this point of view, moreover, Ireland is among the states that has always been the most critical on the choice of a tax only on the american giants of the technology, guaranteeing a privileged role in the agreements with many of those companies. For its part, the Antitrust authority has said that it will evaluate the next steps and will continue to monitor to ensure that the fiscal policies of the individual states do not represent illegal forms of public aid to anti-competitive.