Apple wins landmark court battle with EU over €14.3bn of tax payments

European Union judges have quashed a European Commission order for Apple to pay back €14.3 billion in taxes to Ireland in a landmark ruling that deals a big blow to Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s efforts to crack down on low-tax regimes in the bloc.  The ruling hands a big legal victory to Apple and reduces the prospect of opening up other low-tax arrangements for multinationals around the EU to state aid scrutiny by Brussels.  The EU’s second-highest court said that Brussels did not succeed in “showing to the requisite legal standard” that the tech giant had received an illegal economic advantage in Ireland over its taxes.