Ireland forced to collect €13bn from Apple

The Irish government has finally com e to an agreement with Apple, to begin collecting the €13bn it is owed by the iPhone creators.

“We have now reached agreement with Apple in relation to the principles and operation of the escrow fund,” said finance minister Paschal Donohoe in Brussels.

“We expect the money will begin to be transmitted into the account from Apple across the first quarter of the year,” he added before a meeting with the EU’s competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

The European Commission ruled that the tech giant must reimburse the Irish state a record €13bn to make up for what it considered to be unpaid taxes over a number of years. The ruling took place in August 2016.

The ruling stated that tax benefits received by the tech company were illegal under EU rules, because they allowed Apple to pay substantially less tax than other businesses.

The announcement comes after some tension with Brussels, which referred Ireland to the European Court of Justice in October of this year for failing to collect the back taxes.

The Irish government must now put the sums in a blocked bank account while waiting for the result of Apple’s and its own appeal to the European Commission.

Ireland built its economic success on being a low tax entryway for multinationals seeking access to the EU, and is concerned that collecting the back taxes could dent its attractiveness to firms.