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U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is set to meet with the European Union’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager this week as she prepares to deliver a final decision on a probe into Apple Inc.’s tax affairs in Ireland.

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Facebook transferred rights associated with its worldwide business to the company, with the exception of the U.S. and Canada: documents.









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The meeting with Lew, who has criticized the European Commission tax investigations, comes amid mounting speculation that the authority will rule as soon as this month in the case — one of a raft of investigations into whether multinational companies don’t pay their fair share of taxes.

Vestager has repeatedly denied she’s deliberately taking aim at U.S. firms, insisting that probes into tax rulings are part of the watchdog’s responsibility to police fair competition within the EU. Clawing back undue advantages — as was the case when Starbucks Corp. was ordered to pay as much as 30 million euros (US$33 million) in back taxes to the Netherlands — simply restores equal treatment, she insists.