The United States government is lending support to Apple in its appeal over a humongous European tax bill, two sources with knowledge of the matter reportedly claimed on Tuesday.
The tech giant was levied with a retroactive demand for 13 billion euros ($14.8bn) in back taxes last August, after the EU ruled its deals with the Irish government were illegal subsidies.
Apple appealed to the General Court, based in Luxembourg, and now the Trump administration is now weighing in on the iPhone-maker’s behalf, Reuters reports.
Related: Apple’s EU tax bill – what you need to know
An unnamed source told the agency: “
The case, which centres around an effective tax rate of 0.005% paid on Apple’s European profits from its Irish headquarters, will be heard in late 2018, a different source said.
Apple had previously said the European Commission had of taken “unilateral action and changed the rules, disregarding decades of Irish tax law, U.S. Tax law, as well as global consensus on tax policy.”
Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook has said: “It’s important for everyone to understand that the allegation made in the EU is that Ireland gave us a special deal. Ireland denies that.”
While Ireland and Apple both deny any wrongdoing, today’s report is significant. There’s been no official comment from Apple or the Trump administration on today’s reported developments.
Are the US and EU on a collision course over Apple’s alleged European indiscretions? Drop us a line with your thoughts below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
