Apple ruling in six months

Ireland will have to wait for up to six months before knowing the verdict of the European Commission on its tax agreement with Apple.

However the Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, indicated that she would not open any new cases until she has completed investigations into the four under review.

And she told RTÉ that she had concerns about the length of time — six years — that the Government will phase out the double Irish tax regime.

“I would like to have a deeper understanding of why such a long time frame is necessary, because six years is a very long time, taking into consideration how things have been handled in similar cases.”

The latest revelations on tax arrangements between Luxembourg and multi national companies, including Skype, has refocused attention on the issue.

Ms Vestager, a former Danish finance minister, said that the latest leaks revealed more companies with advanced price agreements, which was the same concept uncovered in the first leaked documents.

“The new thing is that there are more companies, but the arrangements are not new,” she said. The latest information showed that more accountancy firms were involved in the agreements, in addition to PricewaterhouseCoopers .

This, she said, would allow the Commission to broaden its base on what should be the next step forward, but “it is very important to stay on track, finalise open cases and analyse the information we have from more sources other than just from PricewaterhouseCoopers”.

They were working on the four cases from Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. “It is still too early to say new cases might be opened. We hope to finalise the four open cases by the second quarter of next year,” she said.

And the leaks that say Commission president Jean Claude Juncker was personally involved as Luxembourg’s finance minister in agreeing a beneficial deal with Amazon has added to pressure on him.

His spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas, dismissed such suggestions.