The European Court of Justice is set to hand down its ruling in the €13bn tax case involving technology giant Apple and Ireland on 10 September.
Last November an advisor to the court recommended that it set aside the judgement of the General Court in the case and refer it back to the lower court for a new decision.
The Advocate General expressed a view that the General Court had committed a series of errors in law in its ruling.
His opinion followed an appeal by the Commission after the General Court overturned its finding that the tech giant had underpaid taxes totalling €13.1 billion due to Ireland between 2003 and 2014.
The Advocate General's opinion is not binding, but the court’s ruling on September 10th will be.
In most cases the Advocate General’s legal opinion is followed by the higher court.
If the opinion is confirmed by the court, it would represent a significant setback to Ireland and Apple's defence that the company did not receive special treatment from the Irish state, in breach of EU state-aid rules.
The Government and authorities here have persistently maintained that it never had special deals with individual companies, including Apple.
Eight years ago, a European Commission probe found two tax rulings in 1991 and 2007 issued by Revenue to Apple had "substantially and artificially lowered the tax paid by Apple in Ireland since 1991".
The commission found the technology company had underpaid taxes totalling €13.1 billion between 2003 and 2014 and ordered it to pay the money to Ireland along with €1.2 billion worth of interest.
Apple and Ireland appealed those conclusions to the EU's General Court and the case was heard over two days in September 2019.
The following July the court issued its judgment annulling the commission’s findings.
However, the commission did not accept the decision and in September 2020 announced that it would lodge an appeal.
It was heard in May of last year, with the Advocate General’s opinion issued in November.
