Ireland-Apple tax probe goes on

A two-year investigation into whether Apple’s tax deal with Irish authorities gave the iPhone maker an unfair advantage will take a lot longer because of the large amount of data involved, the EU antitrust chief said yesterday.

The European Commission accused Ireland in 2014 of dodging international tax rules by letting Apple shelter profits worth tens of billions of dollars from tax collectors in return for maintaining jobs.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she had asked Ireland for more details, which in turn raised new questions that required a response from the authorities and occasionally from Apple as well.