Stay on Top of Emerging Technology Trends Get updates impacting your industry from our GigaOm Research Community

Back in June, the European Commission started sniffing around Apple’s tax arrangements in Ireland, to see whether the Irish government’s acceptance of the firm’s elaborate tax avoidance tricks amounted to unlawful state aid. According to a Sunday Financial Times report, the Commission now has its preliminary findings and will this week formally accuse Apple of benefiting from illicit state aid over the course of two decades. The iPhone maker reportedly pays less than two percent tax in Ireland, where its international operations are headquartered. If Apple is shown to have received special treatment that’s denied to other companies, the firm could be liable for billions of euros in fines. Apple denies the allegations.