The European Union wants to overturn Apple’s 2020 victory in the massive $14.8 billion tax dispute, which has been raging for the past several years.
Bloomberg reported Monday that the appeal challenges a July court judgment ruling against Apple. The court decision going against the EU was a big setback for lead Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office is not happy about certain international digital tax laws, which it claims is unfair to American tech giants.
According to Reuters, taxes on digital services imposed by France, India, Italy and Turkey are “inconsistent” with international tax principles. They could, in turn, result in retaliatory tariffs being put in place by the United States.
The European Commission may have lost its court case about Apple’s $14.8 billion tax bill, but it continues to believe that it’s morally in the right.
“We do not consider it normal that the largest corporates get away with paying one percent tax at most,” European Commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters in the aftermath.
In something of a surprise outcome, Apple and Ireland have won their appeal against a European tax bill order which fined Apple $14.8 billion.
The European Commission ordered Apple pay the enormous sum in August 2016. According to the EU, Apple paid a tax rate as low as 0.005% of its European profits in 2014. This was supposedly part of a “sweetheart” deal it received in Ireland.
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 paid 6.2 million British pounds ($7.8 million) on U.K. retail sales of $1.37 billion and gross profits of $337 million last year, a report published by i News claims.
The publication viewed Apple’s latest annual results filing at Companies House, and found that Apple Retail UK was able to reduce its pre-tax profit to only $39 million after accounting for costs and expenses.
The tax rules need rewriting for the digital age, and finally the world’s governments are doing something about it. On Friday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation announced that 137 governments around the world have agreed to launch a rewrite of tax rules for multinational companies the digital age.
Tax officials from the countries in question have agreed to meet in Paris for negotiations about how this might work. The aim is to crack down on the kind of tax avoidance that can happen when multinationals shuttle their profits around to different countries.
Apple has received a glimpse of hope in its giant $14.4 billion tax battle against the EU. On Tuesday, the European Commission’s similar tax case against Starbucks collapsed. The EC claimed that Starbucks had received an unfair sweetheart tax deal in the Netherlands. The European Commission’s General Court overturned this earlier 2015 decision.
But another case against Fiat Chrysler concluded with the European court saying that it had enjoyed preferential tax treatment in Luxembourg.
Apple will raise App Store pricing in Japan next month in line with an update to Japan Consumption Tax (JCT).
The increase will affect sales and in-app purchases, but not auto-renewable subscriptions. Only the most affordable tier priced at ¥120 will avoid the change.
Apple could get an early indication about the likely outcome of its giant European Union (EU) tax case early this week.
Apple was in court last week protesting its 13 billion ($14.4 billion) tax bill from the EU. Although the case is likely to drag on for months, two related cases will be ruled on this week. They may offer Apple some clues about its chances of success.
