Apple has turned down an invitation to an European Union lawmakers’ hearing, saying it doesn’t want to prejudice its challenge to an EU order to pay up to 13 billion euros (about $18 billion) in back taxes to Ireland, reports Reuters. A European Parliament committee is holding the hearing on tax evasion on June 21.
In a letter to the committee released by Greens lawmaker Sven Giegold on Twitter on Friday, Apple said it was waiting for Europe’s second-highest court to rule on its appeal.
“It is important to ensure public commentary does not prejudice those proceedings,” Claire Thwaites, Apple’s senior director of European government affairs, wrote in the letter. “Since the appeal is ongoing and likely to be heard at the General Court in the near future we will not be able to participate in a public hearing on this topic as it could be detrimental to the proceedings at the Court and any potential appeals thereafter.”
The European Commission, Europe’s anti-trust and consumer investigation agency, claims that Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have attracted investment and jobs by helping big companies avoid tax in other countries, including EU members. The commission says Ireland was too lenient in rulings it gave to Apple and which helped the company shield tens of billions of dollars in profit from taxation.
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