The EU Keeps Ireland in the Dark Regarding $AAPL-Irish Tax Fine, Which Might Top $19 Billion

The Irish government is on a need to know basis. They’re not permitted to ask questions, regarding a tax deal, under heavy EU scrutiny, that their government struck with Apple to create jobs. They should’ve known better. Now that the good folks in Brussels are on the case, the beer swillers in Dublin can go back to river dancing in the streets, as they watch the EU shatter Apple’s relationship with Ireland to pieces.

“We’ve no indication which way it’s going to go yet,” Noonan told reporters in Dublin on Thursday. “We’ll get information in due course and then we’ll see.”

Ireland continues to brace for an adverse finding following the meeting with Vestager, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Ireland will appeal any repayment decision, no matter how much Apple must repay, the person said, who declined to comment because the process is still ongoing. The EU opened the Apple probe in 2014, and, in preliminary findings, said its tax arrangements were improperly designed to give the company a financial boost in exchange for jobs in Ireland.

Apple told a European Parliament panel earlier this year that it has “paid every cent of tax that is due in Ireland.”

In a worst-case scenario, Apple may face a $19 billion bill if the government ultimately loses and is forced to recoup tax from the company, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Rod Hall. Matt Larson of Bloomberg Intelligence puts the figure at more than $8 billion.

And you wonder why Great Britain wanted out of the EU?