The European Commission has published the full text of its recent ruling on Apple’s tax affairs in Ireland, while the Department of Finance has published a list of legal arguments objecting to the ruling.

The 130 page ruling from the Commission does not lend itself to an easy summary. In essence it describes the findings which lead it to conclude that State Aid which is not compatible with the EU Treaties was available to Apple in Ireland. This appears to be mainly on the grounds that an allocation of profits for the purposes of TCA97 s25 (Companies not resident in the State) conferred a selective advantage on two Apple group entities which reduced their Irish corporation tax liability (paragraphs 412 and 413 refer).

The legal arguments published by the Department of Finance include that the Commission misapplied State Aid law and that opinions given by Revenue in 1991 and 2007 did not depart from normal taxation rules. Furthermore expert evidence on the arms-length principle was wrongly rejected by the Commission. The Department also issued a statement saying; “Ireland does not accept the Commission’s analysis, which is why we have lodged an application with the General Court of the European Union to annul the whole Decision. Ireland did not give favourable tax treatment to Apple – the full amount of tax was paid in this case and no State aid was provided. Ireland does not do deals with taxpayers.”

Insofar as all of this goes, there is nothing particularly new in this publications since the issue crystallised in late August/early September with the release of the Commission’s press statement on the matter and the subsequent response of the Irish government which was to appeal the ruling.

The position of the Institute in relation to this case remains the same. As stated by Institute President Liam Lynch on 30 August last, the key concern for us remains the attack on Irish tax sovereignty which the ruling represents.