Apple’s €14.3 billion Irish tax break fine is officially one for the history books now, as the Irish government has announced that it’s withdrawn all the money from the escrow account Apple set up back in 2018. That’s when it deposited the aforementioned sum after being fined by the European Commission (EC) for receiving unfair tax breaks from Ireland.
The amount is judged to be what Apple would have paid in taxes in Ireland had it not received a “sweetheart deal” in the form of “illegal state aid” from the Irish government in exchange for setting up its European HQ in the country.
Now that Ireland has moved the money from the escrow account into its central fund, the escrow account has been closed and Apple’s saga regarding these back taxes allegedly owed can finally be put to rest.
The timeline goes like this: in 2013 the EC launched an investigation into Apple and found that the tax breaks it received from Ireland were illegal, and in 2016 it ruled that Apple had to pay back the “state aid” it was deemed to have received over a 10-year period before the probe was launched, since it was allegedly given “significant advantage” over its competitors.
In 2018, Apple set up the escrow account and paid the amount it was deemed to owe into it. In 2020, the EU’s General Court ruled in Apple’s favor, but in 2024, the European Court of Justice overturned that decision and confirmed the EC’s original ruling from 2016. Hence why the Irish government has now finally taken possession of the money.