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The imposition by the European Commission to Apple to return 13,000 million euros to Ireland for tax advantages, considered illegal by the Community Executive, "defies reality and common sense," as the US firm said Tuesday in the hearing held by the Court of Justice of the European Union (TUE).

The manufacturer of the iPhone phones has accused the community Executive of using his power to fight state aid to "modify changes in national laws" and thus try to change the international tax system and, in the process, create legal uncertainty to the companies.

Apple's appeal to the TUE comes after the European Commission assured in 2016 that the Cupertino (California) company benefited from illegal state aid that allowed the multinational to pay less than other companies for more than 20 years .

During the hearing, a panel of five judges will listen to the arguments of both Apple and the European Commission, as well as Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland and the Supervisory Authority of the European Free Trade Agreement.

"The Commission maintains that almost all Apple's profits from all its sales outside of America must be attributed to its two subsidiaries in Ireland, " explained Daniel Beard, one of the multinational's lawyers, at the hearing. In his opinion, the fact that Apple's iPhone, iPad, App Store and other services and products are developed in the United States and not in Ireland shows the errors in the Commission's case.

"The activity of the subsidiaries did not imply creating, developing or administering intellectual rights. According to the facts, the main line of this case challenges reality and common sense ," said Beard, who added that the activity of the Companies in Ireland "simply could not be responsible for generating almost all of Apple's benefits outside of America."

The lawyer has also referred to the criticism of the 0.005% tax rate paid by Apple in Ireland in 2014 , a fact that was cited by the Commission in its decision, stating that the Executive only "sought headlines by citing small numbers."

The multinational Cupertino has assured at the hearing that it pays, at the group level, a tax rate of 26%, which, in its opinion, makes it the largest taxpayer in the world, and that it is paying 20,000 million euros in taxes in the United States for the same benefits that the Commission considered should have been taxed in Ireland.

Ireland itself is also present in the case, which questions the Commission's decision since its economy has benefited from the investment of multinational companies due to low tax rates.

"The Commission's decision is fundamentally wrong," said Ireland's lawyer Paul Gallagher.

The TEU will still take several months to pass a sentence, although, if the party that loses the trial decides to appeal, the final verdict will still take several years to occur.

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