EU: Apple will reportedly be hit with a record-breaking tax penalty

The European Union’s executive body is poised to rule as soon as Tuesday that Apple’s tax arrangements with Ireland have breached the bloc’s state-aid rules, according to people familiar with the matter.

In its statement declaring the tax arrangements illegal, the European Commission is expected to cite a figure range which Apple needs to pay back to Ireland and will likely request the national Irish authorities to calculate the exact figure.

The European Commission, the bloc’s antitrust agency, opened a formal probe into Apple’s tax arrangements more than two years ago, accusing Ireland of striking deals with the US tech company in 1991 and 2007 that amounted to state aid.

The EU’s decision would come days after the US Treasury Department published a white paper sharply critiquing the EU’s investigations into tax deals brokered between US multinational companies and European countries.

The US has accused the EU of unfairly targeting American companies in its investigations. American lawmakers have threatened to invoke an obscure section of the tax code that allows retaliatory double taxation.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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