Apple could be hit with Irish tax bill in the billions

The RTE report said the decision will be 130 pages and come some time after 10 am CET. Both these agreements are under commission’s investigation.

Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager already decided a year ago that the Fiat and Starbucks tax deals were illegal because they allowed the companies to underpay and therefore get unfair competitive advantages over their rivals.

The decision is set to be the subject of an appeal in the European courts by Apple and Ireland, both of which have denied any wrongdoing.

It is reported now that the European Commission will issue its findings against Ireland tomorrow, accusing it of so-called “sweetheart” deals with the tax giant. The money that’s in Ireland that he’s probably referring to is money that is subject to USA taxes. The Treasury warned that investigations like Apple’s “have considerable implications for the United States … in the form of potential lost tax revenue and increased barriers to cross-border investment”.

The European Competition authority will order the Republic of Ireland to demand back taxes from Apple thought to run more than €1bn on Tuesday.

The Commission declined to comment on Monday.

This isn’t Apple’s first foray into tax avoidance accusations.

The principle behind the inquiries is that national tax authorities can not give tax benefits to selected companies not available to others.

“This is a real operation, but the question is have they been treated fairly and consistently with other companies in relation to Ireland’s corporation tax”. Earlier this month Tim Cook said.

At today’s exchange rates, that means the financial cost of this decision will likely exceed $1.56 billion.

Apple executives have said they would support reductions to corporate tax rates that would encourage it and other multinational firms to repatriate earnings.

The tech giant came under scrutiny after USA senators alleged the firm had reduced its effective corporate tax rate to 2 per cent by using the controversial “double Irish arrangement”.