Walker Thompson

Apple hit with €13bn tax bill

News of the supposedly good deal struck between Apple Corporation and Ireland is perhaps not altogether surprising. The allegation that tax underpaid could amount to 13bn Euros apparently “sends a clear message that EU member states cannot give unfair tax benefits to selected companies” according to EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vesteger.

Ms Vesteger was a former member of the Danish Parliament, the same country which offered Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and others, arrangements which deprived Denmark of substantial tax revenues.

With the banks’ help, stock owners avoid paying Danish authorities the dividend taxes they would otherwise owe on their holdings of companies like Maersk, Novo Nordisk, Danske Bank, Tryg and Carlsberg, among others.

Clearly it would seem that the principles of “Do as I say, not as I do” are alive and well and living in the EU.