Apple accused by the EU of taking illegal tax aid

Apple's CEO will soon have some explaining to do

Apple is in hot water with the European Commission as it’s being accused of taking illegal tax aid from Ireland.

According to a Financial Times report, cited by The Guardian, Apple is soon to face accusations from the EU for the way they pay, or rather don’t pay, their taxes. According to the report, Apple has been paying taxes at a rate equivalent to less than 2% via a special deal with the Irish government.

Many technology companies choose Ireland as their base of operations for business in the EU, mainly because of its competitive corporate tax rate of 12.5%. But according to new findings by the European Commission, backed up by a US Senate investigation, Apple is paying a lot less than that, thanks to a not-so-legal deal struck with the Irish government.

The company and the Irish government have yet to respond to these accusations, but both have previously denied that Apple had been give any sort of a special deal or that anything illegal was going on.

The EU alongside the US and the OECD have recently started to crack down on “aggressive” tax avoidance by large multinational companies, most of which are based in Ireland. Apple will most likely have to strike some sort of deal and probably pay some of the back taxes, unless they drag this into court which is bound to be a slow, timely and frustrating process for all involved.

Source: The Guardian