Bloomberg put together an FAQ about the EU tax ruling. Here are a few of the questions and answers:
> Q: Can Apple afford to pay the bill?
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A: Easily. As of last month, Apple had $232 billion in cash, with about $214 billion of that being held overseas.
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> Q: Who receives the money if Apple ends up paying?
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A: The money gets paid to Ireland, which puts those funds into an escrow account and leaves it there until any appeal process has fully concluded.
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> Q: Is the EU singling out Apple or forcing other companies to obey too?
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A: It’s not just Apple. The EU authority has already ordered the Netherlands and Luxembourg to recover as much as 30 million euros ($33.3 million) apiece in back taxes from Starbucks Corp. and a Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV unit. Vestager is also probing Amazon Inc. and McDonald’s Corp.’s affairs in Luxembourg and has signaled she’s willing to add Google parent Alphabet Inc.’s 130 million-pound ($184 million) tax deal with the U.K. to her growing list of investigations.
Here’s a link to the FAQ.
Interesting answer above, particularly when the EU said: “No other companies are subject to this decision by the European Commission”.
In other words, ‘we didn’t find that any laws were broken, we just invented ‘illegal state’ aid to save face after an expensive four year investigation’.
Well, nice to know “it’s not just Apple.”
“Who receives the money if Apple ends up paying?
The money gets paid to Ireland, which puts those funds into an escrow account and leaves it there until any appeal process has fully concluded.”
That’s a pretty shallow answer. What if the appeals are lost?
It’s all about the single market idea. Single currency without a common tax law is the issue. Very thorny problem for the EU and unlikely to end well. Much bigger issue for me: How do you pronounce An FAQ?
Very good question. Ireland isn’t demanding the money and it cannot give it back to Apple as then it really would be illegal. The EU was never fully baked and is now showing signs of improper cooking.