Recovering €13bn tax bill from Apple to cost State €2m
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said the cost to the State in recovering the €13bn tax bill from Apple is €2m, writes .
The State expects Apple to start paying up to €13bn in back taxes into an escrow account in January. An exact date has yet to be agreed.
The State and Apple are appealing the order made by the European Commission.
Mr Donohoe said the €2m includes outlays by the Department of Finance, Revenue, the NTMA, the Central Bank, the Attorney General’s Office and the chief state solicitor’s Office.
He said: “This case has involved a significant degree of legal and technical complexity, and additional expertise has been engaged where required.”
In a written Dáil reply to Fianna Fáil’s Marc MacSharry, Mr Donohoe said: “While the Government has never accepted the commission’s analysis in the Apple state aid decision, we have always been clear that we are fully committed to ensuring that recovery of the alleged state aid takes place without delay and has committed significant resources to ensuring that this is achieved as quickly as possible.”
“As part of the establishment of the escrow fund, the NTMA, on my behalf, and Apple will jointly appoint a third-party escrow agent-custodian to hold the assets and administer the escrow fund and a third party investment managers to manage the escrow fund.”
He said the scale and complexity” of administering the money required the appointment of the NTMA to run a tender to appoint the investment managers for the escrow account.
“Officials and experts from across the state have been engaged in intensive work to ensure that Ireland complies with all its recovery obligations as soon as possible,” he said.
