Apple wins appeal against $15 billion EUtax bill

苹果赢得针对欧盟的150亿美元税收案的上诉

Apple has wonits appeal against a EuropeanCommission ruling that it owed Ireland €13 billion($14.9 billion) in taxes.

The EuropeanUnion's second highest court ruled Wednesday that the Commission had not proventhat the company had received illegal state aid from Ireland through favorabletax agreements.

The EuropeanCommission — Europe's top antitrust authority — said in 2016 that the Irishgovernment had granted Apple (AAPL) an illegal advantage by helping the iPhonemaker keep its tax bill artificially low for more than 20 years.

But Ireland didn't wantthe money. The small country became the European base for companies such asApple, Google (GOOGL) Facebook (FB) because it has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe.So it teamed up with Apple to fight the Commission.

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苹果赢得了对欧盟委员会关于苹果欠爱尔兰130亿欧元（149亿美元）的税款裁决的上。

欧盟第二最高法院周三裁定，欧盟委员会没有证明苹果公司通过有利的税收协议从爱尔兰获得了非法的国家援助。

欧盟委员会——欧洲最高反垄断机构——在2016年表示，爱尔兰政府通过帮助iPhone制造商人为压低20多年的税单，给予苹果非法优势。

但爱尔兰不想要这笔钱。这个小国成为苹果、谷歌（GOOGL）和脸书Facebook（FB）等公司的欧洲基地，因为它拥有欧洲最低的公司税率之一。因此，它与苹果合作，与欧盟委员会斗争。

In astatement, an Apple spokesperson told that the company was"pleased"with the decision, arguing that the case was never about how much tax it pays,but where it pays it.

"We'reproud to be the largest taxpayer in the world as we know the important role taxpayments play in society. Apple has paid more than $100 billion in corporateincome taxes around the world in the last decade and tens of billions more inother taxes," the spokesperson added.

Apple CEO TimCook has previously said the ruling had "no basis in fact or in law,"calling it "obvious targeting of Apple."

The Irishgovernment also welcomed the decision, saying it had never provided specialtreatment to Apple.

"Thecorrect amount of Irish tax was charged taxation in line with normal Irishtaxation rules," the finance ministry said in a statement.

The courtruling is a major blow to the Commission, which has sought to crack down onwhat it considers unfair tax deals in Europe. The Commission could appeal thedecision to Europe's highest court.

MargretheVestager, the Commission's top antitrust official, said she was carefullystudying the judgment before deciding on steps. But she vowed that the Commission would continue to aggressively pursuewhat it considers "illegal state aid."

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"At thesame time, state aid enforcement needs to go hand in hand with a change incorporate philosophies and the right legislation to address loopholes andensure transparency. We have made a lot of progress already at national,European and global levels, and we need to continue to work together tosucceed," Vestager said in a statement.

苹果发言人在一份声明中说，该公司对这项决定感到"满意"，认为此案从来不是关于苹果支付多少税款，而是关于在哪里支付的问题。

"我们很荣幸成为世界上最大的纳税人，因为我们知道纳税在社会中扮演的重要角色。在过去十年中，苹果在全球已经支付了超过1000亿美元的企业所得税，另外还缴纳了数百亿美元的其他税。"发言人补充说。

苹果首席执行官蒂姆库克此前曾表示，这项裁决"在事实或法律上没有根据"，称其为"明显是针对苹果"。

爱尔兰政府也对这一决定表示欢迎，称从未向苹果提供过特殊待遇。

爱尔兰财政部在一份声明中说："爱尔兰税收的正确数额是按照爱尔兰的正常税收规则征收的。"

法院的裁决对欧盟委员会来说是一个重大打击，欧盟委员会一直试图打击其认为在欧洲不公平的税收交易。委员会可以向欧洲最高法院提出上诉。

欧盟委员会反垄断局最高官员玛格丽特？维斯塔格表示，她正在仔细研究判决结果以决定下一步行动。但她发誓，委员会将继续积极寻求它认为的"非法国家援助"。

"同时，国家援助执法需要与公司理念的改变和正确的立法齐头并进，以堵塞漏洞并确保透明度。韦萨格在一份声明中说："我们已经在各个国家、欧洲和全球取得了许多进展，我们需要继续共同努力，取得成功。