Apple suffers setback in fight against EU's $14 bn tax order

London, November 9

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Apple might end up on the hook after all for billions of Euros in back taxes to Ireland in the latest twist in a long-running European Union dispute, following a legal opinion Thursday from an adviser to the bloc’s top court.

A decision by a lower court that the US tech giant doesn’t have to repay the 13 billion Euros ($13.9 billion) in taxes “should be set aside,” Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella said in his opinion to the European Court of Justice.

The case drew outrage from Apple when it was opened in 2016, with CEO Tim Cook calling it “total political crap.” Then US President Donald Trump referred to European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who spearheaded the campaign to root out special tax deals and crack down on big US tech companies, as the “tax lady” who “really hates the US.” In its 2020 ruling, the European Union’s General Court disagreed with the European Commission, which had accused Apple of striking an illegal tax deal with Irish authorities so that it could pay extremely low rates.

Pitruzzella advised the European Court of Justice that it should “set aside the judgment and refer the case back to the General Court for a new decision on the merits.” — AP