Apple ran out of appeals after a Tuesday ruling by the European Union’s highest court that the iPhone-maker must pay 13 billion euros ($14.3 billion) in taxes it’s owed since 2016.
It’s the final result of a scheme in which Apple tried to lower its taxes by routing European revenues through Ireland, where it was charged a lower tax rate.
Apple is expanding iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS via satellite feature to more countries. The feature is now available to iPhone 14 owners in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Ireland starting today.
Emergency SOS was only available in the United States and Canada so far. Apple previously confirmed the feature would expand to more countries in December.
Apple seems to be reviving plans to build a $1 billion data center in Athenry, Ireland.
It looked like the project was dead after Apple said in 2018 that “delays in the approval process” forced it to make other plans. But the company has now submitted a second application to extend planning permission.
Ahead of tomorrow’s ruling by a European Union court on Apple’s tax appeal for $14.8 billion, the leader of an electoral alliance has argued that Ireland rejecting the decision would be tantamount to “economic treason.”
Apple is turning Isaac Asimov’s sci-fi classic Foundation into a series. And today it released a “teaser” trailer full of stunning visuals to give the world its first glimpse of this epic.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is questioning Apple over privacy concerns raised by an ex-contractor who transcribed users’ Siri requests in an effort to improve the voice assistant’s functionality.
Former Apple contractor Thomas le Bonniec this week said Apple should be “urgently investigated” over Siri data collection. It seems that the EU’s data protection authorities are listening.
The Disney+ mobile app is off to a roaring start in Europe and the UK just days after it launched earlier this week.
Third-party app analytics firm App Annie revealed that the Disney+ app has been downloaded over 5 million times on launch day, possibly thanks to millions of residents having to shelter-in-place due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ireland is not allowed to use the 14 billion euros ($15.1 billion) in disputed back taxes it collected from Apple to help boost its economy during the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis.
Yesterday, the leader of the opposition Sinn Féin party, Mary Lou McDonald, said the Irish government could “right this minute” reach into the escrow account where the funds are held and use them to help workers. However, Taoiseach politician Leo Varadkar says that simply isn’t the case.
Two more cases of coronavirus have been detected at Apple’s Ireland HQ in Hollyhill, County Cork, a report published Friday by Irish news outlet The Echo.
This brings the number of COVID-19 cases reported at the Irish Apple offices to three. The first case was confirmed by Apple on Tuesday.
Apple on Tuesday confirmed that an employee at its Cork, Ireland, campus has contracted COVID-19.
The employee is now in self-isolation while Apple is deep cleaning all its offices, and some workers have been asked to remain at home while further assessments are carried out. Apple insists, however, that the risk to others is low.
Apple’s TV series adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s science fiction novel trilogy, Foundation, is set to become the largest studio production in the history of Ireland.
During a press conference today, Screen Ireland revealed that Apple will create more than 500 jobs when it begins production on Foundation later this year. With its gigantic budget and epic world-building plot, Apple clearly thinks Foundation could be its answer to Game of Thrones, which was also shot in Ireland.
Apple CEO Tim Cook called for worldwide corporate tax reform Monday, saying the tech giant “desperately” wants the system to be fair.
Speaking in Ireland at an awards event, Cook said he thinks “logically everybody knows it needs to be rehauled. I would certainly be the last person to say that the current system or the past system was the perfect system.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to receive a Special Recognition Award for the company’s 40 years of investment in Ireland, the IDA confirmed to Cult of Mac.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar will present Cook with the accolade on January 20 in Dublin. It may be met with criticism from some as Apple continues to pay back €13 billion in unpaid Irish taxes.
A former councillor who supported Apple’s bid to build a $960 million data center in Athenry, Ireland, confirms that he was sent frightening threats about Apple’s decision to cancel the project.
Apple officially ditched its plans for a giant data center in County Galway last year. However, the threatening letters — sent to a number of politicians — demand that the data center is approved.
The escrow fund containing the massive $16 billion fine Apple was commanded to pay by the EU declined by $18 million last year.
The funds are being held in an escrow account while appeals by Apple and Ireland make their way through the court. In the meantime, the money is invested — but, at least based on last year, not as successfully as hoped.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner is looking into whether Apple is following all the requirements of the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation privacy law.
The DPC has three investigations going into Apple’s business practices, each covering a different aspect of the GDPR legislation. There are far more ongoing probes into how Facebook handles user privacy.
Ireland has invested Apple’s back taxes into low-risk, highly rated bonds, according to a new report. The move is an effort to preserve capital amid an ongoing appeal, which could take several years to resolve.
Move over Guinness, hold the Jameson’s, and don’t even think about Kerrygold. When it comes to Ireland’s biggest company, no-one holds a candle to, err, Apple.
You know, that company headquartered in California, which builds products in China, and sells them everywhere on the planet.
Construction has been abandoned on Apple’s new data center in Denmark, according to local reports.
“There is no life” at the site after hundreds of workers for main contractor Exyte were sent home. It is believed Apple has terminated its agreement with the company following a dispute.
Endless delays may have caused Apple to ditch its plans for a giant data center in County Galway in Ireland, but the repercussions are still being felt.
Galways’s Supreme Court will sit in March to hear an appeal regarding whether An Bord Pleanála, the independent planning body, “breached its legal obligations” by approving the first part of the proposed $960 million Apple development.
The European Commission has decided that it won’t sue Ireland over delays in recovering a 13.1 billion euro ($15 billion) disputed tax bill from Apple.
The European Court of Justice action against Ireland was initiated in October 2017 after the country failed to get Apple to pay up one year after the European Union handed Apple the massive tax bill.
Apple has now transferred all €14.3 billion it has been ordered to pay Ireland for back taxes. The cash will stay in an escrow fund while Ireland tries to convince the EU that Apple should get its money back.
This is part of an on-going saga with the EU accusing Ireland of being a tax haven, and Apple caught in the middle.
Apple CEO Tim Cook made a quick stop in Ireland this week where he promised the country he’s interested in it for more than its sweet tax rate.
The company’s relationship with Ireland has been rocky the last year. Apple scrapped plans to build a billion-dollar data center and lost its tax deal, but Cook says he’s still as committed to the country as ever.
Tim Cook is in County Cork, Ireland today, opening the new expansion of Apple’s Hollyhill site — creating many jobs in the process.
Apple is Cork’s largest private employer, having had a presence in the area for decades. It is home to Apple’s only wholly owned manufacturing facility in the world, building “made-to-order” iMacs for customers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Apple has transferred the first 1.5 billion euro ($1.18 billion) installment of its $16 billion fine ordered by the European Union, reflecting back taxes the company supposedly hasn’t paid.
The payment was confirmed today by Ireland’s Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe. In response to Apple paying up, EU authorities are reportedly open to dropping a lawsuit against Ireland for failing to do more to chase Apple’s debt.