CUPERTINO, California – Apple is appealing a European Union order to collect a record $14 billion in taxes, following a similar appeal by Ireland.
The move comes about four months after EU competition authorities said Apple owed back taxes based on the way it reports European-wide profits through Ireland.
Ireland charges the Cupertino, California-based company only for sales in its own territory. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager says the arrangement let Apple report its Europe-wide profits at effective tax rates well under 1 percent.
In a statement, Apple says the EU took “unilateral action and retroactively changed the rules, disregarding decades of Irish tax law, U.S. tax law as well as global consensus on tax policy.”
Apple says it has a worldwide income tax rate of around 26 percent.
