Apple has been told to pay €13bn in taxes by the EU

Apple has been told to pay €13bn (£11bn; $14bn) in unpaid taxes to Ireland by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

The European Commission has accused Ireland of giving Apple illegal tax benefits eight years ago but the Irish government has resisted the demand that the tax be paid.

The ECJ said its decision on the matter was final and that “Ireland has provided Apple with unlawful aid which Ireland needs to recover”.

Apple said it was disappointed by the decision and accused the European Commission of “trying to change the rules”.

Apple’s decision means that the ECJ has finally upheld a decision issued by the European Commission in 2016 after a long legal process.

The ruling covers the period from 1991 to 2014, and relates to how profits generated by two Apple subsidiaries based in Ireland were treated for tax purposes.

Those tax plans were deemed illegal because other companies could not get the same benefits.

The original ruling came as the Commission tried to compel multinational giants believed to be using sophisticated financial schemes to reduce their tax liabilities, but was overturned by the lower court of the ECJ in 2020 following an appeal by Ireland.

This decision has been revoked by the high court saying that it contains legal errors.

Apple said in a statement: “This case has never been about how much tax we pay, but to which government we need to pay. We always pay all the taxes we owe wherever we operate and there has never been a special agreement.”

“The European Commission is trying to change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income is subject to US tax.

“We are disappointed with today’s decision as the General Court previously reviewed the facts and dismissed the case,” Apple added.

Bad news for Apple comes a day after the tech giant released its new iPhone 16 range.

The ECJ’s ruling means Ireland will have to recover lost taxes from Apple – something Dublin has spent years of legal wrangling trying to avoid.

The Irish government has argued that Apple should not pay back taxes, arguing that its losses were justified to make the country an attractive home for large companies.

Ireland, which has the lowest corporate tax rate in the EU, is Apple’s base in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Although corporate tax rates are set nationally, and are not subject to the EU’s mandate, the trade association has greater control over state aid and in this case, argued that by applying the lowest tax rates to Apple, Ireland was allowing it. it’s the wrong subsidy.

The latest decision is a major victory for the European Commission in its efforts to stop big companies from bending the rules.

Europe’s highest court has also ruled that Google must pay a fine of €2.4bn for abusing the market dominance of its comparison shopping service.

The tech giant had appealed the fine, which was imposed by the European Commission in 2017.

Google said it was disappointed by this decision, and pointed out that it made changes in 2017 to comply with the Commission’s decision.

At the time it was the biggest fine ever levied by the Commission – although a year later it handed Google an even bigger fine of €4.3bn for allegedly using Android software to unfairly promote its apps.