EU may rule on Apple tax case next month

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan says there is speculation that the European Commission is to decide next month on whether Apple's tax dealings in this country breached state-aid rules.

"The speculation now is that the Commission may make a decision sometime in July," Mr Noonan said in an interview with Bloomberg in Luxembourg. "But we don't know that with certainty. It's the general feel around Brussels that they're walking toward a July decision."

Initial findings by the commission in 2014 said that Apple's Irish tax arrangements were improperly designed to give the iPhone and iPad maker a financial advantage in exchange for jobs in the country. In a worst-case scenario, JP Morgan analysts estimate Apple could end up having to pay a $19 billion (€16.7 billion) in back taxes, though the expectation is that any negative ruling would end up with a much smaller bill.

The Government has repeatedly said that it will appeal any negative finding to the EU Court of Justice.

In the past, Apple has said it doesn’t use “tax gimmicks”, while the Government has repeatedly said that no State-aid rules were breached in this case.