Called before the European Parliament’s tax committee yesterday to explain its tax arrangements, Apple’s VP of European operations denied that the company received illegal state aid, reports Bloomberg.
Kearney also denied suggestions that the special tax deal with the Irish company was the reason it had chosen the country as its European HQ …
“We feel that we’ve paid every cent of tax that is due in Ireland,” Cathy Kearney said at the European Parliament in Brussels. “We don’t feel that there has been state aid involved and I suppose we look forward to that outcome happening at the end of the day and being vindicated in that way. I would say that the Irish government also agrees with that view.”
She said that the company would remain “committed to Ireland” whichever way the ruling goes.
The hearing was mostly a PR exercise, the committee having no powers to order any changes. That job falls to the formal investigation into Apple’s European tax affairs, which is unlikely to end any time soon.
Apple has, however, conceded in the past that the ruling may go against it, with some estimating that more than $8B is potentially at stake.
Denials aside, it seems hard to see how the ruling could go in Apple’s favor given the strength of the evidence.
Photo: Covent Garden Apple Store, London
