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Apple wins first round of judicial battle against EU mistrust The commission’s order was overturned by an EU court 13 billion euros, And interest, for tax treaties signed with Dublin and deemed illegal by the Executive. The tribunal ruled in favor of the iPhone maker, stating that the European Commission had not proven that Ireland’s tax treaties with the company were illegal state aid.

The Court argues that the existence of anti-competitive gains under Article 107 would have been concluded by the EU Antitrust as legally sufficient () who Full text). The Commission has two months and 10 days to appeal to the European Court of Justice, but in the meantime it is collecting one. More sensational defeats EU countries, known as low-tax state members, offer favorable tax regimes to attract foreign investment. Apple said in an e-mail that it welcomes the verdict.

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The subject of the dispute is two tax treaties signed between Irish authorities in 1991 and 2007 in favor of Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe, two branches of the California giant that merged into Ireland. The commission alleges that Dublin favored Apple by allowing the group to pay lower rates 1% of profits made in Europe (Down to 0.005% in 2014).

Hence the classification of “illegal state aid” and the order for a total refund to the Irish tax authorities 14.3 billion (13 billion back tax and 1.3 billion interest). Thanks to the clear strategy of “tax optimization”, Apple and the Irish authorities themselves rejected this decision, which was against a refund that could be compromised with tech multinationals.

“The commission is wrong to declare that Apple has a select advantage, and therefore the state will help through the expansion,” the court said. Brussels has erroneously concluded that the Irish tax authorities have given Apple a select advantage by allowing them not to charge their Irish affiliates with proceeds from sales outside the United States. In the opinion of the Court, “the Commission must show that the revenue actually represents the value of the activities carried out by the Irish branches”.