August 17, 2019

Andrew Campbell 

Next month, Apple will be heading to court to fight a tax bill of € 13 billion ($14.4 billion USD) issued by the European Union in 2016. Bloomberg revealed on Friday that Europe's General Court will hear Apple's appeal on Sept. 17 and 18.

The case refers to the bill Ireland was ordered to recover by the EU Competition Commission in August 2016. The commission claimed that the tech giant had an unfair benefit enabling itself to pay less tax than it should in Ireland, where its EU headquarters is situated.

The tax bill was blamed as a "political crap" by Apple CEO Tim Cook and vowed to appeal. The U.S. government attempted to negotiate, but failed. Ireland, which has a tax scheme that draws many American tech firms, also disagrees with the EU's judgment and will argue in court alongside Apple.

Apple has already begun to repay some of the bills that the EU requested. The cash is in an escrow account at the moment. The business has not responded to any request for comment.

The case is one of several ongoing appeals against Europe's multinational corporate tax judgments.

Photo:Webshot.