As many of you know, because we have already dealt with this same issue on other occasions, Apple has a kind of excessively friendly tax relationship in Ireland, the country that is the base of all its operations in Europe. However, in 2014 the European Union and its agencies put their eye on this so "idyllic" relationship between Apple and the country in question, since according to the fiscal data, Apple curiously does quite badly in the rest of the countries of the Union European Economic. Definitely, many economic-themed media are beginning to echo the possible sanction that Apple will receive due to this cheating practice which is taking place in Ireland.
The middle The Financial Times ventures to summarize that the ruling of the European Commission in charge of ensuring this matter is close to being issued, as close to being issued as far from being favorable to Apple. Ultimately, the Cupertino company should prepare to face a future economic and fiscal setback. Maybe The most worrying thing for Tim Cook is how he will handle Apple's business network in Europe from now on, or at least after the European Commission ends up melting all the ice cream.
A fairly adverse ruling for Apple is expected by the European Commission. Meanwhile, the United States of America is also planning possible commissions of inquiry. The European Union is a supranational tax authority, ready to change the rules of the game so that companies like Apple do not take advantage of loopholes.
This is precisely one of the reasons for the existence of the European Union, both to facilitate this type of intra-community transactions and the arrival of international capital, as well as scare away possible fraudulent movements that corrupt the natural evolution of the market.
We explain where the trick is, the Apple idyll in Ireland
Margrethe Vestager is at the head of this Brussels-based commission that has been investigating Apple since they alerted about its preferential treatment in Ireland, through the establishment of certain preferences in the legislative base itself. At least that was the preliminary report they obtained during 2014.
Commission accuses Apple of saving more than ten billion dollars ($ 10.000.000.000) transferring the money from its headquarters in the EU member countries to Ireland. At this point is where we ask ourselves "Why?", we are going to do an exercise in Financial Law. We must bear in mind that in the European Union we have what is known as "free movement of people and capital", therefore, it is as easy to carry money from Spain to Germany, as it is easy to travel for a person considered a European citizen. Where is the catch then? Easy, most European Union countries have similar taxes for this type of activity, or are subject to the recommendations of the TTII, however, in the Irish state Apple enjoys an ultra-low rate of 2%, 10,5 % below the corporate and corporate tax affecting the rest of Ireland.
In this way Apple alters the market, literally declaring losses in Spain, while in Ireland it declares very high profits, where it is much easier to regularize those profits, since they will only have to pay 2% in concept of corporate / business tax according to current national regulations. This is how Apple has been able to disproportionately regularize around ten billion dollars.
However, it is not the first company to take advantage of this type of stratagems, some countries, due to economic problems inherent to the crisis, decided to attract foreign investment in exchange for tax benefits outside the competition, as if from a telephone company offering reduced rates will be involved. Apple then joins a state where we find ephemeris like Google, Amazon, IKEA and even Starbucks. We hope that this explanation, which has been simplified to the point of exhaustion (needless to say, technicalities are lacking and certain terms have not been excessively specific in order to make it easier to read and understand) has helped you understand the ins and outs of this activity that has just harmed to the European market in general.