The U.S. wanted to be in Apple’s corner for its battle against the European Union, but a ruling from the EU’s highest court means that the United States is going to have to keep its distance.
The court upheld a previous December decision from a lower court, stating that the American government has not proved that it has any direct interest in the state aid case against Apple.
Fed up of waiting for the necessary permission to proceed, Apple has ditched its plans to build an 850 million euro ($960 million) data center in Athenry, County Galway in Ireland.
“Several years ago we applied to build a data centre at Athenry,” Apple said in a statement. “Despite our best efforts, delays in the approval process have forced us to make other plans and we will not be able to move forward with the data centre.” It will continue with a second data center in Denmark.
After dragging its feet over collecting its giant 13 billion euros ($15.5 billion) tax bill from Apple, Ireland’s Department of Finance has revealed that an agreement has been reached with Apple over when the sum will actually be paid.
The giant tax haul, which Apple was ordered to pay by the European Commission over a year ago, will be transferred to an escrow account, which will manage the funds until all of Apple’s appeals have been heard. But not until 2018!
In the latest instalment of Apple’s battles with the European Union over taxes, Ireland is set to miss a deadline to hire managers to cary out the collection of its owed taxes.
The Irish debt office previously said that it would hire custodians and investment managers for the estimated $15.3 billion tax bill it was awarded by mid-November. However, Ireland — which has fought against collecting the funds from Apple — hasn’t handed out the contracts as it said it would in tender documents.
Dodging taxes is still one of Apple’s top priorities.
The iPhone-maker has come under serious fire in both the U.S. and internationally for its tax practices, but according to a new batch of leaked documents, the company is still doing everything it can to avoid paying the full amount.
Ireland’s High Court has rejected an appeal against Apple’s plans to build an 850 million euro ($960 million) data center in Athenry, County Galway. The rejection means that the project should finally, after much stalling, go ahead.
The appeal filed by several local residences objected to Apple’s plans due to their belief that it would have a negative impact on the environment. The judge said there was no basis for the objection being valid.
A court in Dublin, Ireland has determined that Apple has permission to officially start work building its 850 million euro ($960 million) data center in Athenry, County Galway.
The new data center was given the go-ahead over two years ago, but has been hit with numerous delays since then due to legal issues. The giant data center will help power Apple Music, the App Store, iMessages, Maps and Siri.
Over the weekend, more than 300 people in Ireland staged a rally in support of Apple’s proposed 850 million ($960 million) euro data center in Athenry, County Galway.
The new data center was officially given the go-ahead over two years ago, although construction on it has been delayed by continuing legal issues. If built, the data center will help power Apple Music, the App Store, iMessages, Maps and Siri — while providing plenty of jobs to locals.
The European Commission is continuing its battle with Silicon Valley tech giants by taking Ireland to court, demanding that it reclaim a $17.6 billion tax payment it is owed by Apple.
In addition, it is demanding that Amazon pay it 250 million euros ($294 million) on the grounds that is has enjoyed an illegal “sweetheart deal” in Luxembourg.
Ireland could receive an official rebuke from European Union authorities this week for failing to collect the $17.6 billion tax payment it is owed by Apple.
Apple was supposed to pay the money way back on January 3, but Ireland has continued to battle against the case — with the majority of the country saying it doesn’t want Apple’s money. As a result, the European Commission may issue a so-called “non-compliance action” against Ireland.
The U.S. government may intervene as Apple appeals its massive 13 billion euro ($14.52 billion) tax bill from the European Union.
The demand for money was made last year, after the E.U. ruled that Apple has taken advantage of illegal state aid in routing its profits through Ireland. It seems that the U.S. government doesn’t see entirely eye-to-eye with Europe, though.
Apple Pay is now available in Ireland with support from Boon, KBC and Ulster Bank.
Users with Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards can use Apple Pay to pay for goods in “tens of thousands” of stores, including Aldi, Boots, Burger King, Harvey Norman and Lidl.
Undeterred by its massive tax bill from the European Commission, Apple has confirmed it is shifting its international iTunes business from Luxembourg to Ireland.
The move, which will take place on February 5, was announced in an email to developers today. However, Apple started planning for it last September when it transferred all developer accounts and around $9 billion in assets from Luxembourg to Ireland.
Apple has launched its legal challenge against the European Union’s demand of $14 billion in allegedly unpaid back taxes.
In a statement, Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell said Cupertino has been targeted because of its success, implying that European legislators picked on the company for largely symbolic reasons.
Ireland is set to submit its formal appeal of a European Commission ruling that claimed Apple owes the country more than $14 billion in unpaid taxes.
The controversial tax ruling has been opposed by Irish citizens, a majority of whom say they don’t want Apple’s money. Ireland’s Finance Minister Michael Noonan said today that the country’s government has no choice but to appeal.
The fate of Apple’s proposed data center in Ireland is finally on the fast-track.
After facing an 18-month delay due to an appeal from two Irish residents, Ireland’s High Court agreed to Apple’s request to speed up the legal process. Now instead of waiting until 2018, the court has to resolve the case within six months.
A new poll suggests a majority of Irish voters support the Irish government in opposing Apple’s enormous $14.52 billion tax bill for unpaid back taxes in the Republic of Ireland.
47 percent of respondents said they agreed the Irish government was right to back Apple, compared to 39 percent who say it’s wrong to do so, and 14 percent who had no opinion on the subject.
The past week has been one to forget for both Apple and Samsung. While Cupertino was handed a hefty tax bill by the European Commission, Sammy has had to recall every Galaxy Note 7 unit sold so far for fear of them exploding.
But which one will be most damaging, and which will quickly be forgotten? Apple’s tax fight is sure to rage on for months, but will faulty phones leave a bad taste in the mouths of Samsung fans a lot longer?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we discuss the sad start to September for Apple and Samsung.
The Irish government will lodge a formal appeal with the European Commission over the enormous tax bill of 13 billion euros ($14.52 billion) handed out to Apple earlier this week.
Tim Cook says that Apple is among the biggest Irish taxpayers, and claims anti-U.S. bias is “one reason” the company was targeted by the European Commission.
Cook was responding to this week’s news, in which Apple was handed an enormous tax bill of €13 billion ($14.52 billion) after an investigation into its reportedly illegal “sweetheart deal” in Ireland, giving it an unfair advantage over rivals.
The headquarters of the ruling government party of Ireland, Fine Gael, was the site of recent apple massacre after angry citizens flocked to the offices to protest Apple’s massive tax breaks.
Members of the youth wing Sinn Fein impaled apples of the orange and red variety on the fences of Fine Gael’s Dublin offices following the revelation from the European Commission that Ireland intentionally lowered Apple’s tax burden.
Check out the horrific scene:
The shockwaves from yesterday’s massive announcement that Apple must pay 13 billion euros ($14.52 billion) in back taxes in Europe are still rippling — but nowhere are they being felt more keenly than in Ireland.
Although the Irish government wasted no time in saying it planned to appeal the EC decision, a new report notes that internal disagreements on this issue could have the potential to have an enormous impact. Like, tearing-the-government-apart enormous!
Apple landing Europe’s biggest tax bill in history may be hot news today, but the tax arrangement behind it dates back 25 years.
In 1991, eleven years after Apple first opened its Ireland office, it came to a favorable arrangement with the Irish government — at a time when Apple’s market share had collapsed, but it was still one of the biggest employers in Ireland.
The verdict’s in on Apple’s European tax investigation, and the company has been handed a massive 13 billion euros ($14.52 billion) bill for unpaid back taxes in the Republic of Ireland.
The order was made by European Union competition officials, who ruled that Apple was taking advantage of illegal state aid that allowed the company to route profits through Ireland.
Apple has announced that it will create an extra 1,000 jobs to its Hollyhill site in County Cork, Ireland over the next 18 months — substantially increasing on the 5,000 employees the company currently has in Ireland.
The move is broadly in line with Apple’s overall workforce expansion, which has increased 25 percent over the past year.