Tim Cook says the European Commission ruling that Apple should pay billions of euros in back taxes to Ireland is "maddening" and "political". He told Irish broadcaster that Apple had not been given preferential tax breaks in Ireland. The EU ruling said Apple had been given €13bn of "illegal" tax benefits.
Mr Cook said he was "very confident" the ruling would be overturned on appeal. On Tuesday, the European Commission said Ireland had granted undue tax benefits of up to €13bn (£11bn) to Apple.
Speaking about the ruling, Mr Cook told RTE: "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."
"When you’re accused of doing something that is so foreign to your values, it brings out an outrage in you, and that’s how we feel. Apple has always been about doing the right thing.
"We haven’t done anything wrong, and the Irish government hasn’t done anything wrong." Mr Cook disputed the Commission’s finding that Apple had effectively paid a corporate tax rate of just 0.005%, or €50 out of every €1m, from one of its Ireland-based subsidiaries in 2014.
"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%."