Dutch Minister of Finance Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Saturday urged Apple Inc to “get ready” to pay up, as he and counterparts from other EU nations lined up behind a finding that the technology giant owes billions of euros due to more than a decade of improperly low taxation.
Apple’s bill could reach 19 billion euros (US$21 billion) with interest, and both the company and Ireland, Apple’s European headquarters, are appealing the European Commission ruling.
However, on the last day of an EU finance ministers’ meeting focused on ways to harmonize tax rules for international companies, Dijsselbloem told reporters that these “have an obligation to pay taxes in a fair way.”
Photo: AP
“International tax loopholes are a thing of the past,” he said.
Apple will have to pay back taxes both in the US and Europe, he added, “so get ready to do that.”
His British counterpart, Philip Hammond, said that the EU was keen “to make sure that international corporations pay the right tax at the right place.”
“That’s the fair way to do it, and we are going to make sure it happens,” Hammond said.
The Apple decision is only one of several faulting international companies for exploiting European exemptions to pay minimal taxes. Both Starbucks Corp and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV are contesting rulings handed down last year that they are each about 30 million euros in arrears.
While Ireland would reap a huge windfall from the extra money, it opposes the ruling, because it has also benefited from the setup. Multinationals have such huge revenue that small countries can reap big gains even from low taxes and they also gain from the jobs created.
However, other countries are expressing interest in any payout.
Austrian Minister of Finance Hans Joerg Schelling said Austrian, Italian and France tax authorities are following the case closely with the option of posting claims.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development secretary-general Angel Gurria cited the EU Commission ruling on Apple and invited other nations that might have a claim “to come forward.”
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