The European Union’s crackdown on corporate tax avoidance has landed on Apple ; its antitrust regulator is demanding that the U.S. tech giant pay Ireland up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) plus interest in back taxes.
The ruling is the highest profile move yet in the European battle to make international companies pay what authorities consider their fair share of EU taxes. The EU charges that Apple and other big companies struck deals with EU countries to pay unusually low tax in exchange for basing their European operations there.
The U.S. government has countered that European officials are unfairly targeting American companies.
The EU’s investigations of Apple and other multinationals trace their origins to a 2014 leak of documents that showed how big companies shop around among EU states to get as low a corporate tax rate as possible. The revelation that has fueled popular anger in Europe, where cash-strapped governments had been raising taxes on households.
Here are some questions and answers about the issue.