Cupertino, California — Apple will launch a legal challenge this week to a record €13bn EU tax demand, arguing that EU regulators ignored tax experts and corporate law and deliberately picked a method to maximise the penalty, senior executives said. Apple’s combative stand underlines its anger with the European Commission, which said on August 30 that the company’s Irish tax deal was illegal state aid and ordered it to repay up to €13bn to Ireland, where Apple has its European headquarters. European Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a former Danish economy minister, said Apple’s Irish tax bill implied a tax rate of 0.005% in 2014. Apple intended to lodge an appeal against the commission’s ruling at Europe’s second highest court this week, its general counsel, Bruce Sewell, and chief financial officer, Luca Maestri, told Reuters in an interview at the company’s global headquarters in Cupertino. The iPhone and iPad maker was singled out because of its success, Sewell said. ...
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