BRUSSELS—Apple will have to pay up to 13 billion euros ($18.9 billion Canadian) in back taxes, plus interest, to Ireland after the European Union found Tuesday that it received illegal tax benefits over 11 years. The ruling is the latest — and biggest — salvo in the EU executive Commission's battle to have multinationals pay their fair share in the region. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that a three-year investigation found Ireland granted such lavish tax breaks to Apple that the multinational's effective corporate tax rate on its European profits dropped from 1 per cent in 2003 to a mere 0.0005 per cent in 2014. That last tax rate meant that for each million euros in profits, Apple paid just 50 euros in taxes, Vestager told a news conference. “Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies — this is illegal under EU state aid rules,” Vestager said.

Source: thestar August 30, 2016 10:42 UTC