A decision made could potentially upset Apple’s victory in a long-standing legal dispute with the European Commission over a €13 billion tax bill. Giovanni Pitruzzella, the EU Court of Justice Advocate General, today expressed his opinion that the EU tribunal, which previously ruled in favor of Apple pertaining to the tax order, made legal mistakes and should look into the case once again. The turn of events is a potential setback for Apple, because most of the time, the EU’s top judges usually pay heed to the Advocate General’s advice. Read More
This opinion focuses on EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager’s 2016 directive that called for the Silicon Valley-based Apple to pay about €13.1 billion as back taxes to Irish tax authorities.
Apple pushed against that order with the assistance of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Gibson Dunn at the first-instance General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union and obtained a significant win in 2020. The European Commission disputed that verdict, whichwas interpreted as a significant failure probably leading Vestager to prioritize competition over cases of state aid.
The Advocate-General’s opinion, urged the Court of Justice, the appeals court for EU law issues, to refer the case back to the General Court, stating that the Brussels officials had thoroughly prepared and supported their state aid order with strong analysis.
Apple and the Commission have yet to comment on this development. As is the norm, the Court of Justice generally issues its verdict within six months of an opinion by the Advocate-General.