EU Seeks Top Court Backing in $14 Billion Tax Fight Against Apple

LUXEMBOURG—EU competition regulators appealed to the bloc’s highest court on Tuesday to override a lower tribunal and make Apple pay a record 13 billion euros ($14.3 billion) in Irish back taxes.
The case, which has far-reaching implications for corporate tax bills, is the most high-profile of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s campaign against sweetheart deals between multinationals and European Union states.
“Its outcome will determine whether member states may continue to grant multinational substantial tax breaks in return for jobs and investments,” Commission lawyer Paul-John Loewenthal told the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
The European Commission in a 2016 decision said two Irish tax rulings had for more than two decades artificially reduced Apple’s tax burden, which was as low as 0.005 percent in 2014….