Europe’s top court on Tuesday ruled against Apple in the tech giant’s 10-year court battle over its tax affairs in Ireland.
The pronouncement from the European Court of Justice comes hours after Apple unveiled a swathe of new product offerings, looking to revitalize its iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPod line-ups.
CNBC has reached out to Apple for comment. The company’s shares were down 1% in premarket trading at 09:07 a.m. London time.
In 2014, the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, opened an investigation into Apple’s tax payments in Ireland, the tech giant’s headquarters in the EU.
The Commission in 2016 ordered Dublin to recover up to 13 billion euros ($14.4 billion) in back taxes from Apple, at the time saying that the tech company had received “illegal” tax benefits from Ireland over the course of two decades.
Apple and Ireland appealed the Commission’s decision in 2019, and in 2020 the EU General Court sided with the U.S. tech giant. The EU’s second-highest court anulled the Commission’s 2016 decision and said that the executive arm did not prove that the Irish government had given Apple a tax advantage.
The Commission in turn appealed the General Court’s decision, sending the litigation up to the ECJ.
Key Points
- Europe’s top court on Tuesday upheld a 2.4 billion euro ($2.65 billion) fine imposed on Google for abusing its dominant position by favoring its own shopping comparison service.
- The fine stems from an antitrust investigation by the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, that concluded in 2017.
- The Commission said at the time that Google had favored its own shopping comparison service over those of its rivals.
Europe’s top court on Tuesday upheld a 2.4 billion euro ($2.65 billion) fine imposed on Google for abusing its dominant position by favoring its own shopping comparison service.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/10/googles-2point4-billion-euro-fine-upheld-by-europes-top-court.html
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