EU Watchdog will soon release details about Fiat Tax and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) investigations

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A detailed investigation will be made into tax arrangements that might have taken place between Ireland and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Luxembourg and Fiat. The report of the investigation is expected on Tuesday by European Union (EU) representatives.

The EU’s watchdogs, who are on a lookout for the competitors, showed their concern about certain countries and their lenient stance towards some multinational companies and their methods of tax payments. They were of the opinion that tax payments are a way of attracting investments and jobs and by being lenient the countries are providing the companies with undue favours.

A representative of EU, Antoine Colombani revealed that an investigation based on the same concerns was announced by European commission (EU) on the matter of Dutch government’s treatment of taxes paid by starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX).

Colombani went on to state his doubts about iPhone manufacturers Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). He said that through tax rulings the company receives special and biased treatment, which other companies do not receive. According to him all companies should be treated the same way and should be accountable as per the general rules of the Irish tax system. Colombani said that Tuesday’s reports will answer all the questions and will explain why they have their concerns or doubts.

According to an investigation held in the year 2013 by the U.S senate, the Irish registered businesses were being used by world’s largest market to avoid paying taxes and therefore were saving billions of dollars.

Although in a way the commission can force Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to pay the billions of dollars that it had saved in taxes, but some lawyers think differently. Instead, according to some of the lawyers the commission can force Ireland to change its laws about taxes that are paid by multinational companies. Other European countries agree that Ireland’s laws deprive them of their tax revenues due to its laws.

Since 1980 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been functioning in Ireland without paying taxes, thanks to either the tax holidays or other offers from the government. However Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has rejected all allegations of receiving special treatment in term of tax payments by the authorities of Ireland. Irish government also backed Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) on Monday and stated that they have not broken any laws. It also said that a formal reply has been issued to the commission to answer the doubts and other questions that the EU had in mind.

The commission said that it is looking into the matter by analysing the transfer pricing as well as the intra-group transactions. The commission will judge whether the transactions allowed by Irish, Luxembourg and Dutch tax authorities, which gave Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Fiat and starbucks room to reduce their tax bills were out of the ordinary or not.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) contradicted its June statement on Monday and said that it had not received any special treatment by anyone and it is paying the same amount of taxes that other companies in Ireland are paying. However, on one hand Fiat refused to say anything about Monday and starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) did not reply in time to an email that requested the company to voice its opinion about the matter.

Colombani said that on Tuesday a detailed report will be published on the commission’s website regarding the Irish and Luxembourg cases that involve Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Fiat. However he did not announce a date or day of the report concerning the starbucks case. Following the report, a formal notice will be put up on EU’s official journal after which the affected parties will have a month to come up with their response regarding the matter. The commission will then look into the response and analyse it.

Almunia, EU executive is due to step down as his term ends on Oct 31st, however, he told reporters in Spain that he is confident that the investigation will not be affected in anyway and commission will continue to work in the same manner under the supervision of Margrethe Vestager as it did under him.

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