US firm Apple is at risk of having to repay €13 billion to Ireland, as requested by the European Commission (EC) in 2016. It said Apple had taken unjustified tax advantages. The firm later appealed and the EU's second highest court upheld the ruling in 2020. But the CJEU's advocate general wrote that the lower court had made several errors.
"The judgment of the General Court on the 'tax rulings' taken by Ireland in relation to Apple should be set aside," Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella said in a non-binding opinion. The General Court is the lower instance of the CJEU, or the EU's second highest court.
In addition to errors of law, the General Court also failed, in his view, to correctly assess the substance and consequences of certain methodological errors which the Commission pointed out at the time. "It is therefore necessary for the General Court to make a new assessment," Pitruzzella said.
In response to the Advocate General's announcement, Ireland said that it maintained its previous position on the matter and that it had not granted any State aid to Apple.