On September 10th local time, the European Court of Justice ruled against Apple in the Irish tax case. Apple's stock price fell by about 1% before the market opened that day.

Apple has been engaged in a decade-long "tug of war" with the European Union over Irish tax issues. The ruling by the EU's highest court is considered final, meaning that Apple will no longer be able to appeal the case.

Following the announcement of the EU's final decision, Apple expressed disappointment with the ruling. In a statement, the company said: "The European Commission is attempting to retroactively change the rules and disregards the fact that Apple has paid taxes in the United States in accordance with international tax laws."

The case dates back to 2014 when the European Commission launched an investigation into Apple's tax affairs in Ireland, where Apple's EU headquarters is located. In 2016, the European Commission ordered the Irish government to recover up to 13 billion euros in unpaid taxes from Apple, on the grounds that Apple had received "illegal" tax benefits from Ireland over the past 20 years.

The EU claimed that Ireland artificially reduced Apple's tax burden to 0.005% in 2014 through two tax incentive programs.

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In 2019, Apple and the Irish government appealed to the European Commission. Apple had stated that the record EU tax order defied reality and common sense; Ireland has long used low tax rates to attract large technology companies to establish their headquarters in the country.

In 2020, the EU General Court supported Apple and overturned the European Commission's 2016 decision, stating that the EU failed to prove that the Irish government granted Apple illegal tax benefits.

Subsequently, with the support of EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission appealed the General Court's decision and referred the case to the European Court of Justice.

It is noteworthy that the latest ruling by the European Court of Justice comes as Vestager is about to leave office. Vestager has shown no mercy towards American tech giants. Also under her leadership, in March of this year, the EU imposed an antitrust fine of 1.8 billion euros on Apple for abusing its dominant position in the distribution market of music streaming applications.

The latest EU ruling highlights the ongoing conflict between American tech giants and the EU, which has been trying to address issues ranging from data protection to taxation and antitrust.In conjunction with the Apple tax case, the Google market monopoly case was also adjudicated. On the same day, the European Union ruled that Google was fined 2.4 billion euros for abusing its monopoly power to suppress competitors.

This year, with the full implementation of the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European Commission has launched multiple investigations into tech giants including Apple, Google, and Meta, forcing some American technology companies to change their business terms in Europe.

Just before the European Court's ruling, Apple Inc. had just held its 2024 Fall Product Launch, unveiling new products including the iPhone 16 series of smartphones. However, the most important feature of this Apple launch, "Apple Intelligence," will be postponed in Europe due to the European Union's technical regulations on artificial intelligence oversight.