Apple has no special Irish tax deal: Cook

Apple boss Tim Cook says the company had no special tax deal with the Irish Government, clarifying the confusion created by the US Congress committee report last week, but as far as the European Commission is concerned this is not the end of the matter.

Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta said that he too had received assurances from Ireland that they had no bilateral agreement with Apple, but “we have to work and strengthen our efforts against aggressive tax planning”.

He said sometimes large multinationals take advantage of tax conventions to channel more of their profits to third countries. “This has to be addressed,” he added. Apple has five companies registered in Ireland, three of them with no tax residence and one of which had a net income of €23bn in three years to 2012 but paid no corporate tax.