Irish government to appeal against EC's Apple tax ruling

Ireland’s Cabinet has agreed to appeal the European Commission’s order to collect €13 billion in undue tax benefits from Apple.

“This is about Ireland, it is about our people, it’s about us as a sovereign nation, actually setting out what we consider our appropriate policies,” Taoiseach Enda Kenny said after a Cabinet meeting.

A government spokesperson said that a motion will be presented before the Dail (Parliament) on Wednesday, seeking an endorsement of the Cabinet’s decision.

Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said that the EC had overstepped a mark in attempting to dictate tax laws and impose current laws on a tax deal that had been struck with Apple 25 years ago.

“I believe that there are some very important principles at stake in this case and that a robust legal challenge before the courts is essential to defend Ireland’s interests,” he said. “How could any investor come to Europe if their business was subject to retrospective taxes two decades later?”

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said he was “very confident” the EC’s ruling would be overturned on appeal, lambasting the decision as “maddening” and “political”.

“It’s disappointing, it’s clear that this comes from a political place, it has no basis in fact or in law, and unfortunately it’s one of those things we have to work through,” he said.

However, European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has insisted it was wrong for Apple to have paid the equivalent of 1% corporation tax on its European profits in 2003 and that this was down to 0.0005% by 2014.

“The Commission’s investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years,” she said.