back to article Apple's CEO Tim Cook declines invitation to discuss EU tax ruling with Irish parliament

Tim Cook has turned down an invitation to appear before the Irish parliamentary finance committee to offer his thoughts on the EU's ruling over Apple's tax affairs with the nation. Last year, the European Commission ruled that tax arrangements between Ireland and Apple were in breach of the EU's state aid laws. It said the …

  1. Valeyard

    The Register has attempted to contact Apple, but received no response.

    that doghouse must be awfully crowded with all of ireland moving in

    1. John Latham

      No, it's mostly just SF and assorted lefties

      Sinn Fein are in opposition. Their current political strategy is coming from the left. It doesn't matter that Ireland will never get the 13bn (it'll be kept in escrow until the EU has divided it up by sales volume, probably), SF get political capital from asserting that we could fix poverty and social injustice if we only took the money.

      The government parties recognise that the Irish government has no control over the outcome, but they get to strengthen the tax haven brand by appealing anyway. It's a win-win, until Trump rewrites the US tax code and all the tax-dodging US multinationals pull out.

      1. Valeyard

        Re: No, it's mostly just SF and assorted lefties

        get political capital from asserting that we could fix poverty and social injustice if we only took the money.

        ever the ways of the opposition!

        "that's bad you shouldn't do that, hi everyone look how crap they are"

        "what would you do instead?"

        "THAT'S NOT THE ISSUE STOP DERAILING US!"

  2. David Webb

    The Register has attempted to contact Apple, but received no response.

    In other news, the pope is Catholic and bears do indeed defecate in the woods.

  3. wolfetone Silver badge

    To quote the Irishman who posted a video on Facebook about the Irish government refusing to take the money from Apple: Fuck Apple.

    If you can't attend something on legal advice then you're quite clearly in the wrong. So pony up the dough and piss off.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If you can't attend something on legal advice then you're quite clearly in the wrong.

      No, you're following legal advice. Not to be for or against Apple, but I do wonder why a CEO would bother to attend a commission investigating a benefit its own government has provided as if it's somehow Apple's fault. That's just BS, and you know that as a CEO you will then spend ages being talked down to by idiots who couldn't even manage a household budget if they tried.

      Heck, even if legal advise said I would be OK to attend something like this I would tell them to f*ck off. Apple simply does what a business does when handed a benefit: accept it, just like all the other big players there. If the EU wants to play that one they will also have to start investigating all the other companies that benefit from Irish tax largesse or they can be accused of selective justice.

      I wonder which MEP didn't get a large enough discount on his new iPhone to kick this off. I hope for Microsoft that the Windows 10 installation didn't break.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Fuck Apple?

      Because the Irish government refuses to try to take money from them? That makes no sense at all. If Apple said "the EU is right" and sent a check to the Irish government, and the Irish government returned it because they believe Apple doesn't owe that money, would you still say "fuck Apple?"

  4. Woodnag

    Apple is sensible. They get the tax relief now, as status quo, and the Irish government has stated that they support that, despite the court ruling. So where's the upside to Apple turning up? They han hardly improve their situation further.

  5. ratfox

    I'm a little bit surprised that the Irish government thinks that it's necessary or useful to invite the CEO himself. Surely Apple has accountants who are more knowledgeable about the fine details?

    This feels like a dick-waving contest.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'm a little bit surprised that the Irish government...

      Bit of a lack of understanding of the Irish constitution there?

      1. ratfox

        Let's just say I chose to use the broader definition of government as "the system by which a state or community is controlled" rather than the narrower Commonwealth definition, which is restricted to the executive branch...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    the committee received a letter this week

    "Given the sensitive nature of the investigation and the timing, we have been advised not to undertake any other direct activities, which could potentially prejudice future outcomes. It is on this basis that we are unable to appear before the Committee on this occasion."

    Sounds just like the "of course I will appear before the court to answer the allegations, you have my word on it and so do the people that put up the bail money"

    Perhaps Cook is worried he'd be extradited to sweden on a trumped up charge and be flown to the US instead Oh wait, that's been tried before

    1. Mark 85

      Re: the committee received a letter this week

      It could all just be BS on Cook's/Apple's part. Maybe he has no interest in visiting Ireland... doesn't like the beer?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: the committee received a letter this week

        >It could all just be BS on Cook's/Apple's part. Maybe he has no interest in visiting Ireland... doesn't like the beer?

        The arrival of the new Prez must be giving him pause for thought - probably a minor issue compared to the specific threats Trump made to Apple when campaigning. At the end of the day it's just a few billion they haven't saved, not a loss.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          At the end of the day

          It costs Apple $0 to pay that money to Ireland. If they pay an extra €13 billion to them, that is a tax credit that will reduce their US tax bill by an identical amount. The day they wrote that check they could file an amended return (probably more than one, covering several tax years) in the US and would get that money back within a month (however long it takes the IRS to process a ~$15 billion refund)

          Apple isn't fighting this because it will cost them money, they're fighting it because:

          1) they believe they did nothing wrong - they reached an agreement with the Irish government years ago, however the EU believes that Ireland wasn't allowed to make such an agreement under EU law

          2) they want the EU to prove (i.e. in a court or something) their contention, which they need to take up with Ireland before sending Apple a bill

          3) they don't want to make it look easy for other countries to go around saying "hey we've decided our tax law isn't being interpreted correctly, you owe us more money"

          1. MR J

            Re: At the end of the day

            It doesn't cost them $0 to pay it to Ireland.

            This is money that is 0% taxed as it is (thus, they cant really go back and claim tax relieve on it can they?).

            Apple is not fighting because.

            1) They know it looks bad and they don't want it to look worse.

            2) They know that Ireland is more than happy to work as a broker for these "somewhat legal" tax evasion rules.

            3) Trump. Trump is likely to push through a "Cash Holiday", that would mean that Apple and all of the others can bring back the offshored money with little or no tax penalty. Once this is done then Apple can turn around and say "Look, we did not offshore these trillions, we took them back to the US Tax system!"

            Apple has around $230 billion sitting in offshore accounts now waiting to bring it back. Apple will be willing to pay $23 billion to do that, at the same time they will turn around and show empty accounts to the EU Regulators.

            The U.S. is one of the few/only nations that tax everything you earn (regardless of where it was earned or any other conditions) corporations are allowed to "defer" the tax until the money is brought back to the us, people however must file for this crap every year.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_taxation#Taxation_systems

            Much of the fault here comes about with the way the US runs its tax system, I doubt that will be revamped any time soon so you can be sure that corps operating globally will seek to cheat the tax man "legally" when they can.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: At the end of the day

              Apparently you didn't comprehend my post. It doesn't matter that the money is untaxed today, because they are paying billions in taxes every year in the US on profits earned in the US. Paying that money to Ireland will let them off the hook for an equal amount of taxes in the US, so it costs them nothing.

              The only way Apple comes out behind is if the tax laws change and they don't have to pay taxes on income earned overseas - including income earned in previous years. That seems unlikely, especially the last part.

    2. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: the committee received a letter this week

      "Perhaps Cook is worried he'd be extradited to sweden on a trumped up charge and be flown to the US instead Oh wait, that's been tried before"

      Tim Cook holed up at the, say, Indonesian embassy in Dublin for five years would make a great sitcom.

      Back to the topic: isn't the usual routine to appear in front of the committee, read a brief, vague statement that repeats the positions you've already stated, and politely decline to go any further due to the ongoing legal procedures?

  7. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    It took the EU 3 years to agree to let HMG lend Reaction Engines £60m

    Apple looks like they did a sweetheart deal with the Irish govt.

    A sweetheart deal needs 2 people to agree to it. We know what Apple got from it (an obscene amount off their legitimate tax bill). What did the Irish govt get?

    And the effort they are making is still more than the HMG have taken against any of CMD's old friends.

  8. Mark Exclamation

    "Sinn Féin's finance spokesman, Pearse Doherty, took to Twitter to share his displeasure at Cook's decision." - Thinks he's more important than he really is? Small man's syndrome, perhaps?

    1. Rattus Rattus

      You're right

      Tim Cook DOES think he's more important than he really is.

  9. Dr Fidget

    Power shift

    Just another reminder about the shift of power from democratically elected governments to multinational corporations.

  10. Pen-y-gors

    The times they are a' changin'

    Back in the day, when someone received an 'invitation' from the 'boys' in Sinn Féin (and their 'friends') they wouldn't dare say no!

    1. Mage Silver badge

      Re: The times they are a' changin'

      Maybe Tim Cook will get a visit from guys in a white van.

      Or a B&D brochure in the post.

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