EU take Ireland to court for not collect £11.5b from Apple

The European Commission is taking Ireland to the European Court of Justice for its failure to recover up to 13 billion euros (£11.5billion) of tax due from Apple Inc.

The Commission ordered the U.S. tech giant in August 2016 to pay the unpaid taxes as it ruled the firm had received illegal state aid, one of a number of deals the EU has targeted between multinationals and usually smaller EU states.

The EU nations are actively looking to close loopholes for U.S. internet multinationals and are considering harmonized tax rules. 

‘More than one year after the Commission adopted this decision, Ireland has still not recovered the money, also not in part,’ EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

‘We of course understand that recovery in certain cases may be more complex than in others, and we are always ready to assist. But member states need to make sufficient progress to restore competition,’ she added.

The Commission said the deadline for Ireland to implement its decision had been January 3 this year and that, until the aid was recovered, the company continued to benefit from an illegal advantage.