Apple, the iPhone maker, said the EU's ruling on Tuesday that it owes Ireland up to €13 billion in unpaid taxes "will have a profound and harmful effect on investment and job-creation in Europe".
"The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple's history in Europe, ignore Ireland's tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process," the technology giant said in a statement.
The EU’s competition arm said that Apple had been granted selective treatment by Ireland through two tax rulings granted to the company in 1991 and 2007 by the Revenue Commissioners in Dublin.
That treatment allowed Apple to avoid taxation on almost all profits generated by sales of its products in the EU single market because Apple recorded the sales in Ireland rather than where products were sold, the commission said.
However, Apple said the EU’s case was not about how much Apple pays in taxes, it’s about which government collects the money.
“Apple follows the law and pays all of the taxes we owe wherever we operate. We will appeal and we are confident the decision will be overturned,” it said.
