LurkerJ said: Just googled it, the US is angry The US Treasury said: "We believe that retroactive tax assessments by the Commission are unfair, contrary to well-established legal principles, and call into question the tax rules of individual member states." Last week the Treasury warned that the European Commission was in danger of becoming a "supranational tax authority". Charles Schumer, one of the highest-ranking Democratic senators, said: "This is a cheap money grab by the European Commission, targeting US businesses and the US tax base. " "By forcing their member states to retroactively impose taxes on US companies, the EU is unfairly undermining our ability to compete economically in Europe while grabbing tax revenues that should go toward investment here in the United States," he said.

what a load of bullshit from the US treasury

the money that is back taxed now will probably only ever see american shores if Apple gets a tax amnesty and european companies (like EDF) were back taxed just the same for a similar illegal tax agreements

Charles Schumer, clueless twit of the year? I wonder how he is connected to Apple Inc...

Apple (Apple Sales International in particular) is considered the "grandmaster of tax evasion" by pretty much everyone. Hence they are first in line. Next in line are Starbucks and Fiat.

Ireland is considered first in line of those countries that offer illegal (by EU laws) "tax incentives" to companies (of any origin, this is not about the US as this Schumer troll seems to think). Next in line are Luxemburg and Gibraltar.

We will see an unusual alliance of Apple and Ireland to fight against the EU it seems..

There is so much wrong with this sentence.

1. They cant compete economically when they have to charge 1% on their PROFITS instead of 0.005% ?!

2. Apple has 250 billion cash outside of the US and for years now, they do not transfer that money to the US nor do they invest that money in the US.

Next should be to get mcdonalds & coca-cola to pay up as well.

Good, one thing the EU's good for.

Do the people of Europe get to decide where that money goes? 

Brace yourselves for Irexist

Maybe i am wrong, but US was hunting europeen bank a little while ago for $$$, so now its europe who hunting US company for $$$.

From the other articles I've read, it really just seems to be the EU saying to the US "either shit or get off the pot." There's this deluded dream that Apple will bring that money back to the States to get taxed when the rates are favorable, but the EU is tired of waiting for that to happen, so they're making a move on the money and America is using words like "supranational."

I have little sympathy for anyone in this situation, but it'll be fun to see how it plays out. And if there's going to be a ripple effect it will probably be pretty interesting regardless of the outcome.

This is 10 years of unpaid taxes where Apple has exploited the system and only paid 50 euros for every 1,000,000 euros profit.

How is that fair competition towards companies that've paid the normal tax rate? In Ireland the tax rate is 12.5%. Far from what Apple has paid.

As the most valuable company in the world I think it's time for Apple to show a little responsibility.
Besides, I think Apple will survive

About time really. That's an obvious case of unfair competition.
Now let's see what they really need to pay.