Ireland has accused the European Commission of exceeding its powers in a legal challenge to the ruling that Apple must return billions in unpaid taxes.
The Ministry of Finance said that the competition watchdog, which ordered Apple to pay back €13bn, had interfered with its sovereignty.
Ireland is appealing the Commission’s ruling which found that the tech giant enjoyed a special deal allowing it to pay 0.0005pc tax in 2014 - 50 euros for every one million of profit.
The Irish Department of Finance submission said: "The Commission has exceeded its powers and interfered with national tax sovereignty.
"The Commission has no competence, under State aid rules, unilaterally to substitute its own view of the geographic scope and extent of the member state's tax jurisdiction for those of the member state itself.
"The purpose of the State aid rules is to tackle State interventions which confer a selective advantage. The State aid rules by their nature cannot remedy mismatches between tax systems on a global level."
The Commission's inquiry found that Ireland's treatment of Apple allowed the global brand to avoid taxation on almost all profits generated by sales in the entire European single market.
It said this was because Apple recorded all its sales in Ireland rather than in the countries where the products were sold. Ireland argues the important decisions within the Irish branch offices were made in the US so profits deriving from those decisions could not be attributed to Ireland. Apple has had a base in Ireland since 1980 and employs 6,000 people.
Apple has also issued a formal appeal against the ruling which it said had “no basis in law”, and said the Commission had failed to prove that Irish-registered Apple Sales International had received special treatment from Ireland.
Ireland has decided to appeal against the order that the iPhone maker pay back taxes. The country has structured its economy around attracting multinationals with its low corporate tax rate but left-wing critics have argued accepting the windfall could bring dramatic changes to national coffers during recovery from a recession.
The Department of Finance in Dublin added: "The Commission never clearly explained its State aid theory during the investigation, and the decision contains factual findings on which Ireland never had the chance to comment.
"The Commission breached the duty of good administration by failing to act impartially and in accordance with its duty of care." A Commission spokesperson said it "will defend its decision in court."
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