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Tim Cook meets with European Commission antitrust chief ahead of possible $8B tax bill

Tim Cook this week met with the European Commission’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, Bloomberg reports and Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman at Apple, confirms. The Cupertino based company is fighting back against contentions that they have formed a special agreement with Ireland in which they pay significantly lower taxes to the country’s government. The news also appears to coincide with Tim Cook’s announcement in launching an iOS development center in Italy.

Having already agreed to settle a $347 million claim by the Italian tax office, Cook’s tweet in regards to the first iOS development center has definitely piqued some interest today. If the ruling declares that Apple and Ireland’s agreement is illegal, Ireland would be at legal fault, but Apple would owe the billions in back taxes. So it comes as no surprise that the Irish Prime Minister has chimed in defending the relationship; the one in which Apple would be seen introducing 1,000 jobs by mid-2017.

The tax pressure is only stacked with the encryption/privacy debate being mounted by the likes of AT&T’s CEO, who stated this week that encryption policies should be in the government’s hands, not the company’s. It’s worth nothing that Apple isn’t the only company being investigated here, with Starbucks Corp. and Fiat Chrysler amongst others, but Apple is definitely the most valuable in sheer monetary worth.

While we’ve been reporting on the Apple overseas tax controversies for a few months now, this new information feels timely considering this is the week of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Apple likely has some presence here, where various leaders in business and politics come together to discuss the world’s most pressing issues, considering the other European news coming out of the company.

Whether or not this week’s meeting will ultimately help Apple and the prospect of a massive tax bill remains to be seen.

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Comments

  1. capitancodice - 8 years ago

    I am asking from the perspective of an American, so don’t get angry at me for not knowing, what purpose does the European Union serve? All I ever hear about it is it has and causes monetary issues, harms more than it helps, and generally has its head up its you know what (sounds a lot like the US government to me), but what benefits if any does it offer to the citizens of Europe who fall under it umbrella?

    • Well, it indeed is some kind of government. The European Union serves as a intermediary for all countries that are part of it. Many people, including myself are against the EU, because of how much money it costs us. Especially because we as taxpayers pay debts from countries such as Greece. Anyway, it’s just like the US Government. But more democratic. At least it is supposed to be, unfortunately reality is different.

      The European Union is also responsible for tradings between all EU countries. And ever heard of the Schengen agreement? Thanks to this millions of refugees take over all countries. And guess what, only the European Union has a say in the debate of whether we have to let in refugees or not. Again, many people are against this. There’s no democracy anymore.

      But ehhh, not trying to get into a debate here so I’ll keep my mouth shut for now, haha. xD

      Dutch person here by the way.

    • patthecarnut - 8 years ago

      I think if you ask MOST Europeans, they would tell you the only benefits are unifying currency and taxing the h*ll out of everything. So yeah, same as the US Government. :p)

      • And yet many people aren’t even satisfied with the currency. In my country, the Netherlands, many are fighting to make the government go back to the Guilder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_guilder), because the Euro costs us more than it brings. One political party, the Party for Freedom is anti-Euro. And so am I, it’s time to go back to the basis.

  2. Brian Nicholas - 8 years ago

    All those Apps developed in Italy won’t work ;-) In a nutshell the EU is a collection of countries with standardised laws in certain fields aimed at making trade between these countries easier. The idea of a pan European collection of countries and the idea of a standardised currency came about at the end of WW2 in an effort not to have a situation where WW3 would come about. That in itself was a fair ideology at the time, the issue now is that being a member of the EU raises arguments around trade globally and being a member of the Euro doesn’t allow you to control your fiscal policy from a central government. As with the example of Greece who have been out partying at the clubs for 10 years on a credit card from a German bank. Now the Germans who have sobered up from the big party and want their money back and Greece is still under the table drunk with a couple of passed out ladies of the night