The European Court of Justice orders Apple to repay to Ireland $14.3 billion for illegal fiscal aid

The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruled Tuesday that tech company Apple must repay Ireland 13 billion euros (equivalent to $14.3 billion) for undue state aid.

The decision confirms the position that the European Commission adopted when it considered that the aid offered by Ireland to the big tech was illegal, so now the country must recover that amount.

In its ruling, the CJEU recalled that in 1997 and 2001 Ireland adopted two advance tax rulings in favor of two Apple group companies (Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe), which were incorporated as companies under Irish law, but were not tax residents in that country.

In 2016, the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, found that the advance tax rulings had constituted illegal state aid to those companies until 2014.

"According to the Commission's estimates, Ireland granted illegal tax advantages to Apple worth €13 billion," the CJEU stated.

In 2020, however, in a lower instance, the General Court of the EU (GCeU), had dismissed the Commission's complaint, but in this case the CJEU rectified the position and ruled that Ireland must recover that amount.