Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken out against the EU ruling which held that Ireland had given Apple “illegal” tax benefits, saying he was “confident” it would be overturned on appeal.
In a statement made to Irish broadcaster RTE, Cook insisted “Apple has always been about doing the right thing” and disputed the EU’s estimate that Apple paid a corporate rate tax equivalent to 0.005 percent.
“It’s a false number. I have no idea where the number came from. It is not true. Here is the truth. In that year, we paid $400m to Ireland, and that amount of money was based on the statutory Irish income tax rate of 12.5%.”
Of the ruling, he said:
“It’s maddening, it’s disappointing, it’s clear that this comes from a political place, it has no basis in fact or in law, and unfortunately it’s one of those things we have to work through.”
“We haven’t done anything wrong, and the Irish government hasn’t done anything wrong.”
The $13 billion back-tax bill is the largest anti-competition penalty imposed by the European Commission.