Tim Cook hits back at EU ruling in scathing letter

Apple CEO Tim Cook has responded angrily to the European Commission's ruling that the tech giant's tax dealings in Ireland were illegal, referring to the decision as "unprecedented" in a letter to the Apple Community.

The US company was ordered to backpay around €13bn in taxes it was judged to have owed the Irish government. Both the company and the government deny claims of any wrongdoing.

In his missive, Cook comments on the company's role in bringing investment and jobs to the southern city of Cork during the 1980s and how it has spread its business over Europe and created 1.5m positions.

"As our business has grown over the years, we have become the largest taxpayer in Ireland, the largest taxpayer in the United States, and the largest taxpayer in the world," said Cook.

He defended their tax practices, saying that "in Ireland and in every country where we operate, Apple follows the law and we pay all the taxes we owe."

The investigation was carried out by EU commissioner for competition Margrethe Vestager over three years, and found that Apple had paid between 1% and 0.005% tax on its European profits from 2003 to 2014.

Cupertino, California-based Apple´s boss criticised the investigation, believing that it had "launched an effort to rewrite Apple’s history in Europe, ignore Ireland’s tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process."

Cook also opened a debate about the sovereignty of EU member states, describing the decsion as "unprecedented" and having "wide-reaching implications".

"It is effectively proposing to replace Irish tax laws with a view of what the Commission thinks the law should have been," wrote Cook. "This would strike a devastating blow to the sovereignty of EU member states over their own tax matters."

Ireland and Apple are both expected to appeal the ruling from the Commission.