An adviser to the EU’s top court said that the court made legal errors when it ruled in favor of Apple regarding a 13-billion-euro tax bill. This comes as a potential setback for the tech giant, as the EU seeks to crack down on deals between multinationals and EU countries that they view as unfair state aid. The European Commission initially decided that Apple benefited from Irish tax rulings that reduced its tax burden to as low as 0.005% in 2014. The General Court had previously sided with Apple, but an advisor to the EU Court of Justice said that the judgement on Ireland’s ‘tax rulings’ should be set aside.
Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella at the EU Court of Justice said that CJEU judges should review the initial case against Apple again after the General Court’s decision was called into question. This case is a part of the EU’s ongoing crackdown against deals between multinationals and EU countries which are viewed as unfair state aid. While Apple’s spokesperson believes that the General Court’s ruling in Apple’s favor should be upheld, the European Union’s General Court, which will rule in the coming months, typically follows around four in five such recommendations and could potentially mark a setback for Apple.
EU antitrust chief Magrethe Vestager has a track record of forcing EU countries to scrap such “sweetheart deals”. The Apple case will be a significant one to watch in the coming months, and will be a key test in the EU’s continued efforts to crack down on tax benefits between multinationals and EU countries that are seen as unfair state aid.
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/GBZVJFRH2NJRTKZTUSESWFYRAQ.jpg&description=Apple+faces+challenge+in+appealing+EU%E2%80%99s+%2414+billion+tax+order.){kind=link}