Ireland risks being fined because of the company Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),, the European authorities are of the opinion that the Irish government is not cooperating in the recovery of a huge amount from Apple. Last year, the European Commission imposed a fine of 13 billion euros on the Apple company for the wrong declaration of receipts and profit for the last 10 years, thus reducing its tax base, and the Irish government must recover the amount.
Apple has subsidiaries in Ireland from which it runs all its European business and which collects all the money, and they have tax benefits based on an agreement with the Irish government. The European Commission considers that this agreement would be illegal and that is why it imposed a fine of 13 billion euros, and now it could fine Apple for refusing to collect the money on time and "taking the side of the Americans".
Apple had to pay the fine imposed by the European Commission until January 3, but only now will the money be collected in a special account where it will be kept until the appeal against the fine is judged. Considering that the trial will last up to 6 years, keeping 13 billion dollars in a special account without collecting interest or investing it is stupid, so Apple and the Irish government are looking for financial administrators to make sure that the amount be used to generate additional income during this period.
It is not known what kind of fine could be applied against the Irish government in this situation, but probably the amount will not be that big.
"If the commission considers an EU state has failed to implement a recovery order in a state aid case, regulators can sue at the bloc's courts in Luxembourg. Judges would then rule on the alleged non-compliance and can issue a fine."
