Apple and Ireland are taking a big hit today. Court of Justice of the European Union Now ruled in “Tax Rulings”.These tax rulings were awarded to the Dublin American multinational. The judges deemed it to be contrary to European law It was analyzed and the commission was condemned In 2016, Apple owed €13 billion in unpaid taxes. There is good and bad in this decision.

On the positive side, Margaret Vestager, the former vice-president of the European Commission who led the legal assault on the multinational, can rejoice.

“It is very important to show European taxpayers that tax justice can be achieved over time” She responded immediately.

His services revealed that two Apple subsidiaries were registered in Ireland but not tax resident anywhere! This allowed the company to take advantage of a tax rate of less than 1% on profits abroad. The Court confirmed the Commission's diagnosis that this represented unlawful state aid, as not all multinationals present in Ireland could claim the same treatment.

A relief for Margrethe Vestager as previous decisions in the Amazon in Luxembourg and Starbucks in the Netherlands cases rejected her arguments. Even Apple suffered a setback in Ireland in the first battle.

This time, the Court of Justice justified its approach, moreover, without any reference to the lower legal level. Neither Ireland nor Apple can appeal the case, the ruling said. While awaiting the verdict, the firm had to pay 13 billion euros in a special account. They will have to pay Ireland.

“We always pay all taxes regardless of where we operate” An Apple spokesperson said in 2019. This is even less true today.

Use of tax havens

However, all is not rosy. like Underlines the tax justice networkNGO fighting against tax havens:

“Today's decision will do nothing to make up for the huge loss of revenue that Ireland has imposed on other EU countries over the years since the Apple case was launched. »

The unpaid taxes are actually owed to the Irish tax authorities and not to countries including France that are victims of aggressive tax optimization practices on the part of the digital giants.

Moreover, Data published at the end of August According to the American Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on the performance of American multinationals in 2022, the concentration of their foreign profits in a few countries highlights the extent to which these firms continue to use European tax havens, including the Netherlands and Ireland. Lead, to find their profit.

Starting this year, the EU imposed a minimum effective tax rate of 15% on profits made abroad by multinational companies. We will have to wait until next year to see how well this new tool to combat aggressive tax optimization by multinationals bears fruit.