The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ordered Apple to repay €13 billion (£11 billion; $14 billion) in unpaid taxes to Ireland.
This follows an accusation by the EU Commission that Ireland provided Apple with illegal tax benefits eight years ago.
Despite Ireland’s consistent opposition to the repayment, the court affirmed the European Commission’s 2016 decision that Ireland granted unlawful aid to Apple.
The ruling, issued just after Apple announced its new iPhone 16 range, upholds the Commission’s decision regarding tax arrangements from 1991 to 2014.
These arrangements involved two Apple subsidiaries in Ireland and were deemed illegal because they provided tax advantages not available to other companies.
Apple argued that the case was about which government it should pay taxes to, claiming that it pays all taxes owed in every jurisdiction it operates.
The company also expressed disappointment with the decision, noting that previous rulings had annulled this case.
The decision follows a lengthy legal battle, including a 2020 reversal by a lower ECJ court which was overturned by the higher court for containing legal errors.
Consequently, Ireland will need to recover the unpaid taxes from Apple, a process Dublin has been trying to avoid for years.
In a related development, Europe’s top court has also mandated that Google pay a €2.4 billion (£2 billion) fine for market dominance abuse related to its shopping comparison service.
This fine, initially imposed by the European Commission in 2017, was the largest penalty at that time, though Google has since received a larger €4.3 billion fine in 2018 for issues related to Android software.
