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EU/US: US backs Apple in Ireland tax appeal

By  |  July 5, 2017

The US government has sought to intervene in Apple’s appeal against an EU order that the technology giant must pay up to €13 billion (US$14.8 billion) in Irish back taxes, a source familiar with the matter has said.

“I can confirm that the United States filed an application with the European Union General Court to intervene in the case involving the retroactive application of state aid rules to Apple,” said the source, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager made the record tax demand after finding that Ireland had provided illegal state aid to the US company through a ‘sweetheart’ tax deal.

The Vestager ruling was criticised by the Obama administration, which said the EU was helping itself to cash that should have ended up in the United States.

The Trump administration, which has tentatively proposed a tax break on US$2.6 trillion in corporate profits being held offshore as part of its tax reform, has not said anything in public so far about the case.

Full Content: Reuters

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