The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that Apple must repay €13 billion (£11 billion; $14 billion) in unpaid taxes to Ireland.
The case stems from an accusation by the EU Commission, which claimed that Ireland granted Apple illegal tax benefits eight years ago. Despite this, the Irish government has consistently maintained that the repayment is unnecessary.
“The Court of Justice gives final judgment in the matter and confirms the European Commission’s 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover,” the court said.
The news comes a day after the tech giant released its new iPhone 16 range.
“This case has never been about how much tax we pay, but which government we are required to pay it to. We always pay all the taxes we owe wherever we operate and there has never been a special deal.
“Apple is proud to be an engine of growth and innovation across Europe and around the world, and to consistently be one of the largest taxpayers in the world,” an Apple representative said.
The ruling means the ECJ has finally upheld the decision issued by the European Commission eight years ago after a lengthy back and forth legal process.
The decision covered the period from 1991 to 2014, and related to the way in which profits generated by two Apple subsidiaries based in Ireland were treated for tax purposes.
Those tax arrangements were deemed to be illegal because other companies were not able to obtain the same advantages.
“The European Commission is trying to retroactively change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income was already subject to taxes in the US.
“We are disappointed with today’s decision as previously the General Court reviewed the facts and categorically annulled this case,” Apple added.
The original ruling was issued during a period when the European Commission was cracking down on multinational corporations it believed were using sophisticated financial strategies to lower their tax liabilities.
This ruling was overturned by a lower ECJ court in 2020 following an appeal from Ireland. However, the higher court has now reversed that decision, citing legal errors in the earlier verdict.
As a result, Ireland is required to recover the unpaid taxes from Apple, a process that Dublin has sought to avoid through extensive legal battles.
Additionally, Europe’s top court has ruled that Google must pay a €2.4 billion (£2 billion) fine for abusing its market dominance with its shopping comparison service.
This fine, initially imposed by the European Commission in 2017, was the largest penalty ever issued at that time, although Google later received an even larger €4.3 billion fine in 2018 for unfairly promoting its own apps through its Android software.
Like the Apple case, this decision marks the conclusion of a protracted legal issue for Google.