EU top court rules against Apple, Google in landmark cases: Apple to pay €13 billion, Google fined €2.4 billion

The top court of the European Union (EU) on Tuesday, September 10, ruled against Apple and Google, drawing an end to two long-running legal cases.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJE) delivered victory to the European Commission in two separate cases, holding that Apple would have to pay €13 billion (almost $14.4 billion today) in unpaid taxes to Ireland.

In a separate ruling, the court upheld the European Commission’s 2017 decision to fine Google €2.4 billion for anti-competitive practices.

With Apple, the court ruled in favour of the European Commission’s order for the company to pay €13 billion in back taxes to Ireland. This decision was in line with regulators' findings that the tech company had signed an illegal deal with the Irish government. In fact, the sum of €13 billion has been derived from tax benefits that the company received between 2003 and 2014 in Ireland, where Apple had kept all its income earned from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India.

Apple had been ordered to pay €13.3 billion to Ireland by the Commission in 2016, but it was overruled in a 2020 appeal case by the European Union's General Court. While the current case was ongoing, the €13 billion was held in an impound account and will now be released to Ireland.

“This case has never been about how much tax we pay, but which government we are required to pay it to,” Apple said in a statement on Tuesday. 

“The European Commission is trying to retroactively change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income was already subject to taxes in the U.S,” the company further added.

On Google’s end, the CJE upheld the European Commission's 2017 decision to impose a €2.4 billion or $2.6 billion fine for abusing its dominant position by favouring its own product comparison service. 

Initially, the European Court had ruled in favour of the Commission in 2021. However, Google lodged an appeal for the annulment of the fine, which it lost today.

“By today’s judgement, the Court of Justice dismisses the appeal and thus upholds the judgement of the General Court,” the court said in a press release.

In a brief statement, Google said it was “disappointed” by the ruling.

“This judgement relates to a very specific set of facts. We made changes back in 2017 to comply with the European Commission’s decision. Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services,” the company added.

Both Apple and Google are also being investigated in the US by the Department of Justice (DoJ) for alleged breaches of antitrust laws.