European Commission appeals CJEU General Court’s decision regarding Apple’s back taxes

The European Commission (Commission) appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to override the CJEU General Court’s ruling on Apple’s back taxes. Namely, the Commission requested the CJEU to make Apple pay a record 13 billion euros in Irish back taxes. The case has far-reaching implications for corporate tax bills, and its outcome will determine whether member states may continue to offer large tax benefits to multinational corporations in exchange for their investments and jobs. The Commission accused Apple, in 2016, of benefiting from two tax rulings that artificially reduced Apple’s tax burden, resulting in a rate as low as 0.005% in 2014. At the same time, the General Court of the CJEU stated, in 2020, that the Commission failed to show that Apple enjoyed an unfair advantage. Apple claimed that it had paid the taxes regulated under Irish law and that the profits which Commission referred to be attributed to Irish branches were, in fact, subject to the US tax regime, which were also paid. The Commission lawyer Paul-John Loewenthal argued that the CJEU General Court’s judgement is legally flawed and should be set aside.