Apple must pay up to $14.5 billion in back taxes to Ireland, the European Union ruled Tuesday after the bloc’s anti-trust arm concluded that the technology firm was given illegal tax benefits over two decades.
“Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies — this is illegal under EU state aid rules,” said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
Vestager said a three-year investigation found Ireland granted such lavish tax breaks to Apple over many years. She said the multinational’s effective corporate tax rate on its European profits dropped from 1% in 2003 to a mere 0.0005% in 2014.
