Summary

  • Apple facing €13bn bill for unpaid taxes

  • Ireland and Apple to appeal EU tax ruling

  • US anger over 'unfair' rulings by EU Commission

  • FTSE and Wall Street finish with mild losses

  • ARM shareholders back Japanese takeover

Live Reporting

Dan Macadam

  1. A message to the 'Apple community'

    Apple hit with €13bn back-tax claim

    Steve Jobs at Apple site in Cork, 1980Apple

    Here's Tim Cook's response to today news that Apple needs to find another €13bn in taxes. 

    “We now find ourselves in the unusual position of being ordered to retroactively pay additional taxes to a government that says we don't owe them any more than we've already paid,” Mr Cook writes.

    The statement also includes a reminder that Apple is no recent visitor to Ireland and its favourable tax laws, re-printing this picture of Steve Jobs at the company's facility in Cork - in 1980.

  2. US criticises EU over Apple

    Apple faces €13bn back-tax claim

    The US Treasury Department has warned that EU's Apple ruling threatened the bilateral "spirit of economic partnership".

    A spokesman said in a statement: "The Commission's actions could threaten to undermine foreign investment, the business climate in Europe, and the important spirit of economic partnership between the US and the EU.

    "We will continue to monitor these cases as they progress, and we will continue to work with the Commission toward our shared objective of preventing the erosion of our corporate tax bases," the statement said.

    Other US multi-nationals also face investigations into their tax affairs.

  3. EU taking 'calculated risk'

    Back of iPhoneGetty Images

    The EU's decision to hit Apple with a €13bn tax bill may look like good politics, as the authorities portray themselves as fighting tax avoidance by overseas firms, but whether it is good economics remains to be seen. According to former Citigroup chairman and CEO Walter Wriston, capital flows to where it feels most welcome - as Ireland's low-corporate-tax policy has proven, largely to the benefit its economy, over the past two decades. The EU is therefore taking a calculated risk by tackling Apple, as this could deter fresh investment by leading corporations, to the potential detriment of employment and income tax contributions, let alone the wider trickle down effects on consumer spending and corporate capex.

    Russ Mould, Investment director, AJ Bell

  4. EU will have consumers on its side

    Rory-Cellan Jones
    Technology correspondent

    The European Commission faces some formidable opponents and may find itself entangled in litigation and diplomatic disputes for years. But it may well believe that it has one powerful lobby behind its campaign - European consumers. At a time when globalisation and arrogant multinationals are both going right out of fashion - and governments are still imposing austerity policies - the commission believes that giving Apple a bloody nose will win bravos rather than boos from ordinary people who have to pay their taxes."

  5. €13bn tax bill is same as Ireland's healthcare budget

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  6. Brexit bonus?

    BuzzFeed business editor Simon Neville tweets:

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  7. Vestager: Hope ruling would be 'upheld by European Court'

    This is based on an in-depth investigation, it's based on the facts. I also think and hope that if it goes to the courts that it will be upheld by the European Court.

    Margrethe Vestager, Competition Commissioner

  8. Apple shares fall in pre-market trading

    Wall Street Journal tweets

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  9. Vestager: 'No rules have been changed'

    Competition Commissioner holds Apple press conference

    It's up to Ireland if they want to challenge the Commission's ruling says Ms Vestager.

    She dismisses criticism that the EU has re-written the rules and given Apple a "retroactive penalty". She says: "No rules have been changed, not one rule has changed. This is a question of paying unpaid taxes..."

    She adds that if her tax bill had fallen to 0.005% then "I would have felt that I should have a second look at my tax bill".

  10. Apple 'not being fined'

    The Apple decision is not a fine, and not a penalty, EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager underlines. "This is unpaid taxes."

  11. Apple reacts to EU tax ruling

    Apple store frontGetty Images

    The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple’s history in Europe, ignore Ireland’s tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process. The Commission’s case is not about how much Apple pays in taxes, it’s about which government collects the money. It will have a profound and harmful effect on investment and job creation in Europe. Apple follows the law and pays all of the taxes we owe wherever we operate. We will appeal and we are confident the decision will be overturned.

    Apple

  12. Companies have to compete on 'equal terms'

    We still have some work ahead of us to ensure that companies compete on equal terms and not at the expense of EU citizens.

    Margrethe Vestager, EU Competition Commissioner

  13. Ireland must remain 'attractive' for business

    Irish finance minister, Michael Noonan, said he would seek approval from the Irish Cabinet to appeal the EU Commission's ruling to European courts. "It is important that we send a strong message that Ireland remains an attractive and stable location of choice for long-term substantive investment,'' Noonan said. "Apple has been in Ireland since the 1980s and employs thousands of people in Cork." 

  14. Apple tax treatment 'illegal'

    EU press conference on Apple

    Margrethe Vestager

    EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager says that in one year Apple paid just €50 per million made in profits. "This selective tax treatment of Apple in Ireland is illegal under EU rules," she says.

  15. Ireland rejects EU decision on Apple

    Ireland told to recover €13bn in back tax from tech giant

    Ireland disagrees profoundly with the European Commission's ruling against its tax dealings with Apple, Finance Minister Michael Noonan says.

    He said Apple paid the full amount of tax required and no state aid was provided. 

    "I disagree profoundly with the Commission," Mr Noonan said in a statement. "The decision leaves me with no choice but to seek cabinet approval to appeal. This is necessary to defend the integrity of our tax system; to provide tax certainty to business; and to challenge the encroachment of EU state aid rules into the sovereign member state competence of taxation." 

  16. Ireland 'disagrees profoundly' with Apple tax ruling

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  17. Apple 'paid 0.005% tax on EU profits in 2014'

    Member States cannot give tax benefits to selected companies – this is illegal under EU state aid rules. The Commission's investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years. In fact, this selective treatment allowed Apple to pay an effective corporate tax rate of 1% on its European profits in 2003 down to 0.005% in 2014.

    Margrethe Vestager, EC Competition Commissioner

  18. EC: 'Ireland gave illegal tax benefits to Apple worth up to €13bn'

    Apple logoGetty Images

    The European Commission statement on Apple's tax affairs in Ireland is just out and this is what it says "The Commission has concluded that Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to €13 billion to Apple.This is illegal under EU state aid rules, because it allowed Apple to pay substantially less tax than other businesses. Ireland must now recover the illegal aid."

  19. Apple's tax benefits 'worth €13bn'

    RTE Europe editor tweets

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  20. US-EU trade talks tanking?

    BBC World Service

    View of containers in dockReuters

    Another minister from an European Union member state has cast doubt on the prospect of the bloc reaching a comprehensive trade agreement with the United States, reports BBC World Service. 

    The French trade minister, Matthias Fekl, has said he will call for the current T-TIP talks to be abandoned when he meets his peers next month.

    The talks began in 2013 with the aim of reducing or removing a wide range of barriers to transatlantic trade and investment - but they have proved controversial in both Europe and America.  

    On Sunday the German economy minister said the negotiations had failed, because Europe was unwilling to accept US demands. But in an interview with the German publication Der Spiegel, the US Trade Representative, Michael Froman, said talks were making steady progress.