EU Bites Apple

According to theWall Street journal:

Apple Ordered by EU to Repay $14.5 Billion in Irish Tax Breaks
EU says tax deal with Ireland allowed Apple to pay almost zero tax on European profits between 2003 and 2014

"The European Union’s antitrust regulator has demanded that Ireland recoup roughly €13 billion ($14.5 billion) of unpaid taxes accumulated over more than a decade by Apple Inc., a move that intensifies a feud between the EU and the U.S. over the bloc’s tax probes into American companies.

The size of the tax demand, which came in a formal decision issued Tuesday, risks further unsettling multinational companies, which face a broader international effort to curb aggressive tax avoidance. But the commission’s decision shows companies could be on the hook for past behavior and potentially be handed big bills for allegedly unpaid back taxes.

The sum is the highest ever demanded under the EU’s longstanding rules that forbid companies from gaining advantages over competitors because of government help." -more