The European authorities continued to “fight” with Apple in court, appealing the previous decision of the EU Supreme Court, which sided with the corporation and allowed it not to pay Brussels 13 billion euros, writes Reuters.
The head of the EU antitrust authority Margrethe Vestager announced the filing of the complaint, who called the proceedings important in terms of attempts to force multinational corporations to pay taxes on an equal basis with everyone.
The essence of the original lawsuit was an attempt to recover from Apple the amount of income tax allegedly underpaid to the Irish budget. According to the European Commission, Dublin has provided unreasonable benefits to Apple for several years, lowering the rate even compared to the current 12.5 percent tax on trade income.
As a result, the effective rate for Apple and other digital companies that receive revenue from the sale of content was 9.5 percent, compared with 23 percent of the average tax that most European companies pay.
Ireland often serves as a place of registration for digital companies due to the fact that the rate in force in this country is one of the lowest in Europe. Such companies have the opportunity to pay income tax at the place of registration since the sale of products is not tied to a specific territory.
This approach raises claims from the EU and US authorities, which are competing for the right to levy taxes from leading digital companies. In some European countries, taxes on digital companies have been introduced since 2019, the basis for which is not profit, but the proceeds received at the expense of residents of a particular state.
