The European Union has accused Ireland of giving Apple Inc. illegal state aid through tax arrangements that had "no scientific basis" but which helped the iPhone maker shelter tens of billions of dollars in international revenues from tax.In a letter written in June but published only on Tuesday, European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told the Dublin government that tax deals agreed in 1991 and 2007 appeared, in his preliminary view, to amount to state aid that broke EU laws and could be clawed back from the U.S. company."The Commission is of the opinion that through those rulings the Irish authorities confer an advantage on Apple," Almunia wrote to Ireland in the letter, which was dated June 11.Publication of the letter had been expected this week.
Apple Inc. (Apple) designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. Shares of AAPL fell by 0.64% or $-0.64/share to $100.11. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $68.33 and as high as $103.74. On average, 54575400 shares of AAPL exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 49781780.
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