Ireland’s Department of Finance outlined its key arguments to appeal the European Commission’s (EC’s) ruling that it had breached European Union (EU) state aid rules in its tax deal with Apple.
Arguments for the appeal
In a statement, Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan outlined several arguments for the appeal.
First, he said, Ireland didn’t provide favorable treatment to Apple. The Chairman of Ireland’s Revenue Commissioners has stated that:
- There was no departure from the applicable Irish tax law,
- There was no preference shown in applying the law, and
- The full tax due was paid in accordance with the law.
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By Guest Writer: Andy Dawnbarn, Wilkins Kennedy LLP
Andy Dawbarn is partner at Wilkins Kennedy (WK) in the UK. WK is one of the largest accounting and consulting firms in the UK and a new member of Allinial Global. Andy specializes in Value Added Taxes (VAT) having spent over 30 years in VAT, including HM Customs and Excise.
As Britain is left waiting to see what the future holds as an independent nation, many businesses will be asking questions about what to expect following the Brexit result and key timings as to when those changes will be taking place. VAT is one area where the UK could see more significant changes after leaving the EU and out of all the taxes is likely to be the most affected. (more…)
All 28 European Union (EU) member states reached political agreement on the European Commission’s (EC’s) Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive designed to combat multinational corporation tax avoidance.
During negotiations, some amendments were made to the proposal, including the deletion of the controversial “switch-over clause” to prevent double nontaxation of certain income.
Before Brexit
The approval came before Britons voted to leave the EU, a move that has significant tax implications (see sidebar below).
The final Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive includes the following: (more…)
The European Union (EU) Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, answered questions about the European Commission’s investigations of illegal state aid to certain multinational enterprises (MNEs), including Apple and McDonald’s.
She told the European Parliament’s committee, to examine practice in the application of the EU state aid and taxation law (TAXE 2), that her office has reviewed approximately 1,000 rulings, of which around 600 were related to the so-called “Luxleaks.” The Luxleaks disclosures showed that tax rulings by Luxembourg allowed more than 300 MNEs to reduce their tax bills. (more…)
Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem indicated that the Netherlands will be at the forefront of efforts to combat multinational tax avoidance.
In a passing reference to his country’s current struggles with the European Commission (EC) over tax rulings, Dijsselbloem said, “If the Netherlands has been part of the problem in the past, we want to be part of the solution from now on.” (more…)
The EU launched an investigation into whether Luxembourg gave unlawful tax deals to McDonald’s. In a tax ruling, Luxembourg determined that the fast food chain wouldn’t owe it any taxes even if the company wasn’t subject to tax in the United States. This article provides the details.
