Case Law Details
Ireland And Others V European Commission (General Court of the European Union, Luxembourg)
EU General Court annuls decision of European Commission and rules in favour of Apple by holding no Irish State Aid
The General Court, Luxembourg (GC), the second highest judicial body in EU finally rendered its long-awaited judgment in the cases of Ireland v. Commissioner (T-778/16) and Apple Sales International & Apple Operations Europe v. Commission (T-892/16) on 15th July 2020 and has ruled in favour of Apple and Ireland, thereby annulling the European Commission (EC) decision of 2016. The case related to illegal fiscal state aid investigations initiated by EC against Apple and the Irish Government that effectively demanded retrospective recovery of a tax bill amounting to €13 billion (approx. ₹1.14 lakh crore) alongwith applicable interest.
Apple’s Tax Structure
Apple Sales International (ASI) and Apple Operations Europe (AOE) are subsidiary companies of the Apple Group (based in California, USA) incorporated in Ireland. ASI and AOE are neither tax residents of Ireland nor of USA. ASI and AOE further set-up Irish branches that were responsible for manufacture, assembly, procurement, sales, distribution and marketing of Apple products for the Europe, Middle-East, India and Africa (EMEIA region). The profits attributable to such branches could be taxed in Ireland. In the current case, ASI and AOE were the alleged beneficiaries of fiscal aid by the Irish Government.
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