BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union accused Ireland to grant Apple illegal state aid through tax treaties that had no “scientific basis”, but who helped iPhone manufacturer to save tens of billions of dollars in taxes.
In written in June and published only on Tuesday letter, the competition commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, said the government in Dublin that the tax treaties signed in 1991 and 2007 appeared in its preliminary view, equivalent to a help State that violated EU laws and could resume the American company.
“The Commission is of the opinion that, for these determinations, the Irish authorities confer an advantage to Apple,” wrote Almunia to Ireland in the letter, dated June 11.
The publication of the letter was expected this week.
Analysts said the tax agreements made Apple the most valuable company in the world, save billions of dollars in taxes.
The Irish government and Apple have denied for so long that they had made any agreements unusually favorable to the company. Neither Dublin nor Apple immediately for comment on Tuesday.
The EU competition regulator announced in June that it was investigating whether benign tax regimes in a number of countries for multinational companies, which help to attract investment and jobs, represented unfair state aid.
Under EU competition law, if it is considered that a government unfairly helped a company with state aid, it needs to recover the money from the company.
(By Julia Fioretti)
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