Gilmore denies special tax deal agreed with Apple

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has denied that Ireland had negotiated corporate tax arrangements with individual companies, despite claims in a US Senate report that computer giant Apple had "quietly negotiated" an income tax rate of less than 2 per cent with the Government.

Speaking in Brussels yesterday where he chaired a meeting of the General Affairs Council, he declined to comment on the tax affairs of individual companies, but insisted Ireland did not negotiate special tax rates.

“Ireland does not negotiate special tax rate deals with any company. We do not have any special low corporation tax rate for multinational companies. Our tax system is statute- based, based on Irish law, and there is no provision for special tax deals for individual companies.”

Criticism of Apple's corporate tax arrangements have come to light as EU leaders gather in Brussels today for a one-day summit dedicated to discussion on energy and taxation policy, following the decision by European Council president Herman Van Rompuy to put the issue of taxation on the agenda last month.

Tax disclosure
While much of today's discussion on tax is likely to focus on tax disclosure involving individuals, the issue of "aggressive tax planning" and profit shifting by corporations is also on the agenda. According to EU officials, EU leaders will strive to formulate a co-ordinated position regarding taxation and the automatic exchange of information, ahead of next month's G8 summit, where taxation is likely to feature heavily.

Asked about the claim that Apple used a number of Irish subsidiaries that were not tax-resident in any jurisdiction, Mr Gilmore said that these were not issues that arise from the Irish taxation system. “They’re issues that arise from the taxation system in other jurisdictions and that’s an issue that has to be addressed first of all in those jurisdictions.

“Let’s be very clear about this, Ireland has a very strong, very transparent tax regime. There are problems in other jurisdictions, those problems are going to have to be addressed. Any loopholes have to be closed off, and we will work to have those closed off both at European Union level and through the work we are doing at the OECD.” Ireland has 69 tax agreements with different countries , he added

The issue of the State’s tax system surfaced at the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, with a number of MEPs referring to Ireland as a European country with a dubious tax regime.

Disclosure
MEPs adopted a draft resolution, ahead of today's summit, calling on member states to allocate resources to prosecute tax evaders and recover lost assets in an attempt to tackle the EU's so-called taxation gap. The resolution also calls on members to suspend or revoke the banking licences of institutions and advisers who assist their customers in tax fraud.

Addressing the parliament European Commission president José Manuel Barroso said he would urge today’s summit of EU leaders to support automatic exchange of banking information between tax authorities, adding that he would like to see this become the international standard. The EU has built up a “toolbox” for tackling tax avoidance and fraud, he said, adding that “now we have to use it”.

He said that while the EU had been making proposals to target tax avoidance “for several years” , there was now a “growing interest in tax issues among member states which, frankly, was not there before”.

The loss of tax revenue in the EU, at €1 trillion a year, is nearly double the 2012 combined annual budget deficit of all member states, he said. “This is a huge amount of money to simply let through the net.”