The European Commission ordered Apple to repay up to €13 billion ($14.5/£11.1 billion) due to an illegal sweetheart deal with the government of Ireland. The backdated tax bill is a huge amount of money compared to the penalties that the commission previously handed out to other tech companies like Microsoft and Google.
Three years ago, European officials conducted an investigation into Apple’s tax deals, which exposed the illegal agreement signed between Apple and Ireland. The commission said that the agreement gave Apple a significant advantage towards its competitors and that now is the time for them to pay back an “illegal state aid”.
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that the commission concluded that Ireland accorded illegal tax benefits to Apple. Member states are not supposed to provide tax benefits to selected companies as it is deemed illegal under the EU state aid rules.
The commissioner added that the illegal deal granted Apple a corporate tax rate of one percent in 2003, to 0.005 percent in 2014.
Apple released an official statement to answer the commission, saying that it will appeal its order.
