Apple Finishes Paying $15.3B in Back Taxes to Ireland, Prompting EU Regulators to Drop Lawsuit

Just over two years after the European Commission ruled that Apple was receiving illegal state aid from Ireland -- where it had reportedly paid less than 2 percent in taxes compared to the country's headline 12.5 percent corporate tax rate -- Apple has now paid back the entire 13.1 billion euros ($15.3 billion) it owed in back taxes (via Reuters).

The European Commission confirmed the payment this week, and furthermore said that EU antitrust regulators now plan to drop all legal action against Ireland. The EU had originally taken Ireland to court for failing to recover the $15.3 billion in tax due from Apple.

The confirmation of the withdrawal of litigation came from an email sent by European Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso:

“In light of the full payment by Apple of the illegal State aid it had received from Ireland, Commissioner Vestager will be proposing to the College of Commissioners the withdrawal of this court action,” Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said in an email.

Although the EU gave its final ruling in August 2016 regarding Apple's tax loophole in Ireland, the regulatory body had first kicked off an investigation into Apple's tax arrangements back in 2014. The ruling eventually found that Apple was allowed to pay an effective corporate tax rate of 1 percent on its European profits in 2003, down to 0.005 percent in 2014. Specifically in 2014, Apple paid 0.005 percent tax on EU profits, which means that "For every million euros in profits, it (Apple) paid just €500 in taxes," said European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager at the time.

Apple and CEO Tim Cook were adamant that the ruling was based on "fundamental errors" and Cook referred to the tax avoidance accusations as "total political crap." He elaborated, stating that Apple pays all of the taxes it owes based on the laws of each country in which it operates. Likewise, the Irish government said it did not give favorable tax treatment to Apple and added that it "does not do deals with taxpayers."

Apple and Ireland eventually moved to appeal the ruling, but as things escalated the European Commission decided to open litigation against Ireland in October 2017 for its failure to procure Apple's back taxes. Eventually, Apple began paying the back taxes it owed around March 2018, and in a report from earlier in the year sources stated that payments were expected to finish around September.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: lawsuit, Ireland, tax, Apple-Ireland tax case

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

69Mustang

5 weeks ago

This is like me getting a $15.30 bill. Just pay it and move on.

Comparatively speaking that $15.3B was a third of Apple's $45B net income for 2017. If that's like you getting a bill for $15.30, back of napkin math says you're broke.:p:D There's no scenario where $15B is a trivial amount. Even spread over two years of payments, there's nothing trivial about that amount of money.

Rating: 14 Votes

penajmz

5 weeks ago

So this is why iPhones are even pricier this year....

Rating: 10 Votes

vrDrew

5 weeks ago

Imagine the sad fate of the Irish government! Forced to accept $15 billion in tax money it obviously has no use for. For shame, for shame.

Hey, Irish Government. Here's a suggestion: Take some of that money and use it to properly investigate the century+ of abuse and neglect inflicted on poor young women and children. You know, the Magdalene laundries. The orphanages that were more like concentration camps. Take some of that money and make an offer of compensation to the thousands of young people who were sexually abused by Priests of the Catholic Church that ran your country for much of its existence.

Ireland is now a rich, cultured, and beautiful country. But its got some sad times in its past. Take this windfall and make amends for one of the stains in your recent history.

Rating: 7 Votes

citivolus

5 weeks ago

I thought Apple was just paying the back taxes into escrow while the appeal was working its way through the process, not that Apple finally accepted responsibility for the liability...?

Rating: 7 Votes

chagla

5 weeks ago

Good job Ireland / EU. Would be good if US gov't went after some big pharma and other corporations.

Rating: 6 Votes

gsmornot

5 weeks ago

This is like me getting a $15.30 bill. Just pay it and move on.

Rating: 5 Votes

chfilm

5 weeks ago

It seems like most of Apple's products will be exempt and Cook has maintained that the iPhone shouldn't be affected:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/18/apples-tim-cook-says-its-not-really-great-to-tariff-apple-products.html

So much for that "hands off, let the markets decide" ideal that republicans strive for, lol.

They don’t know what they’re doing.. even if apple products were excluded for now, eventually something bad will happen with the direction in which trump is steering the world economy.

Rating: 5 Votes

Mr. Retrofire

5 weeks ago

So this is why iPhones are even pricier this year....

No, Trump makes iPhones more expensive.

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1038453273286664193

Rating: 5 Votes

Huntn

5 weeks ago

$15B, no biggie.

Rating: 4 Votes

69Mustang

5 weeks ago

My point was to be funny but that's ok. Your reply is correct in that it is not a small amount they paid.

/Re-reads gsmornot's quote.

Hmm, that's kinda Stephen Wright funny. Not Dave Chappelle funny. Stephen Wright funny needs some of these :p:D:);) or else you end up in Poe's Law territory.

Rating: 3 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]