EU Commission Illegal State Aid Decision: Ireland Ordered to Recover EUR 13 Billion from Apple

On 30 August 2016, the European Commission issued its decision concluding that Ireland granted Apple undue tax benefits of up to EUR 13 billion. The decision ends a two-year illegal State aid investigation into tax rulings provided by Ireland to Apple concerning internal profit allocation, which the Commission determined granted Apple a selective advantage resulting in a substantially low amount of tax being paid.

The tax rulings in question were issued in 1991 and 2007, and benefited Apple …