Europe's highest court has ruled in a "final judgement" that Apple did indeed breach state aid rules by enjoying massive tax breaks in Ireland to the tune of billions of dollars – the culmination of an eight-year legal battle.
Apple loses fight against order to repay $14.4 billion in back taxes to Ireland
All those years back in 2016, the European Commission (EC) said a tax deal between Apple and Ireland violated EU state aid laws and required the company to cough up €13 billion ($14.3 billion) in back taxes.
Apple was later asked to pay a tax bill of 14.3 billion euros ($15.8 billion) in 2018, which included the 13.1 billion euros the company was deemed to have avoided in Europe – a benefit granted by Ireland between 1991 and 2014 – together with interest. This state aid was linked to the tax treatment of profits generated by Apple outside the US by its units Apple Sales International (ASI) and Apple Operations Europe (AOE).
Things didn't end there. Fast forward to 2020 and the General Court of the European Union overturned the EC's decision, arguing that the Commission had failed to sufficiently establish that Apple, among other companies, benefited from a selective advantage.
