Apple Must Pay $14.4 Billion to Ireland in Crackdown On ‘Sweetheart Deals’

“For too long our tax code has incentivised companies to leave our country in search of lower tax rates,” he said in 2017 . “It happens—many, many companies. They’re going to Ireland. They’re going all over.”

According to Daly, the ECJ decision is “not good for Ireland.” “Ireland has always tried to position itself as a country that provides generous tax rules but rules that are fair,” he says. “This certainly has harmed Ireland Inc.”

Chiara Putaturo, an EU tax policy advisor at the charity Oxfam, which is engaged in a long-running campaign against tax havens, said the judgment “delivers long-overdue justice after over a decade of Ireland standing by and allowing Apple to dodge taxes,” adding that it “‘exposes EU tax havens’ love affair with multinationals.”

However, Putaturo said that while Ireland will be forced to recover the €13bn from Apple, the case has not outlawed the use of so-called “sweetheart tax deals” in the EU. Notably, in the Fiat and Amazon cases, which were decided in 2022 and 2023 respectively, the ECJ ruled that similar deals struck in Luxembourg did not amount to state aid.

“While this ruling will force [Apple] to pay its debt, the root of the issue is far from solved,” she says. “EU tax havens can still make sweetheart tax deals with big multinationals. The duty to stop this rests on the shoulders of EU policymakers. Yet, they have turned a blind eye to tax havens within their borders and the harmful race to the bottom that countries like Ireland are instigating.”

Apple said it was “disappointed” with the decision, adding that it “always pay[s] all the taxes we owe wherever we operate and there has never been a special deal.” “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,” the company’s statement said.