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The European Union achieved two important judicial victories against the technological giants Apple y Googlein legal battles decided by the bloc’s highest court.
It is a “great victory for the Europeans and the tax justice“, celebrated the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager.
In one of the rulings, the Court of Justice of the EU The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that Apple benefited from illegal aid from Ireland between 1991 and 2014, and that Ireland will now be able to claim some 13 billion euros ($14.3 billion) from the company.
“He Court of law definitively settles the dispute and confirms the European Commission’s 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple illegal aid that the State must recover,” the court said. Court.
“According to the estimates of the Commission [Europea, el brazo ejecutivo de la UE]Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple worth 13 billion euros,” he added.
Apple said the ruling would have an impact of up to $10 billion on its accounts in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, which ends on September 28.
The Commission had estimated in 2016 that Ireland allowed Apple to pay a 1% tax on its profits in Europe in 2003, a rate that had been reduced to 0.005% by 2014.
According to Chiara Putaturo, a specialist from the humanitarian NGO OXFAM, the decision of the TWENTY highlights “the love story between tax havens and multinationals”. In an official statement, the Irish government said that it “of course respects the ruling of the Tribunal on the taxes due in this case.”
“The process of transferring assets… to Ireland will begin now,” he said.
In 2023, Apple had revenues of $383.28 billion and net profits of $97 billion.
Apple barely fell (-0.36%) in Wall Street after the decision. In another ruling, yesterday the TWENTY ratified a fine imposed by the bloc’s General Court (GC, a lower court) on Google of 2.4 billion euros (more than 2.6 billion dollars).
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, had appealed, considering that the Commission was wrong in its analysis. But the TWENTY The court dismissed the appeal and upheld the fine, finding that the US company “abused its dominant position by favouring its own product comparison services.”
Google faces another test next week, when the EU’s top court is set to rule on a fine worth around 1.49 billion euros ($1.6 billion).
The European Union has previously suffered defeats in similar battles with Amazon and Starbucks.
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2024-09-14 11:01:33