‘Europe trying to rewrite Irish tax rules’

The European Commission has been accused of trying to rewrite Irish tax rules and of wrongly interpreting laws in a strongly worded defence by the Government on whether Apple received €13bn in state aid.

The rebuke, published last night by the Government, was released ahead of the expected publication today from Brussels of its ruling on why it claims the tech-giant owes Ireland €13bn in back-tax. Brussels argues Ireland did not collect enough tax due from Apple over a ten-year period and that the company’s tax burden was reduced in what was an alleged breach of EU state aid rules.

The damning ruling against Ireland, originally made in August, threw the Government into disarray and it was forced to quickly reject the decision and defend its decision to appeal the ruling.