The EU General Court sided with the iPhone maker, arguing that the European Commission had failed to show Ireland’s tax arrangements with the company were illegal state aid. The decision can be appealed.
The court said the EU authority “did not succeed in showing to the requisite legal standard that there was an advantage.”
The decision is a significant blow to Vestager’s five-year campaign to get rid of allegedly unfair tax deals that some EU governments have handed out to certain multinationals including the likes of Amazon.com.
Apple’s fury at its 2016 tax bill led Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook to refer to the EU's move as “total political crap," so there is no surprise in that the company has welcomed the ruling.