EU refers Ireland to court over Apple tax break

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - The European Commission on Wednesday referred Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to get Apple to repay illegal state aid worth up to €13 billion (around $15 billion), according to an official statement.

"Ireland has to recover up to €13 billion in illegal state aid from Apple," Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said.

"However, more than one year after the Commission adopted this decision, Ireland has still not recovered the money, also not in part," she added, referring to the Commission decision of August 2016.

Last year, the Commission confirmed that Ireland's tax benefits to Apple broke EU state aid rules, as the country let the tech giant pay considerably less tax than other companies.

Vestager added that economic recovery sometimes may be difficult, so the Commission can always give support for such cases.

"But member states need to make sufficient progress to restore competition," she said. "That is why we have today decided to refer Ireland to the EU Court for failing to implement our decision."

The deadline for Ireland to implement the Commission's decision on Apple's tax treatment was Jan. 3, 2017, said the statement.

"Until the illegal aid is recovered, the company in question continues to benefit from an illegal advantage, which is why recovery must happen as quickly as possible," the Commission said.