Apple's EUR13bn unpaid Irish tax case referred to European Court of Justice

The European Commission has referred Ireland to court for failing make Apple pay back taxes worth up to €13bn, in an illegal state aid case disputed by both the company and state.

"Ireland has to recover up to 13 billion euros in illegal state aid from Apple," competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, referring to a judgement made in August last year that Ireland's tax benefits to the US technology colossus were illegal under EU state aid rules as they allowed Apple to pay substantially less tax than other businesses.

The deadline for Ireland to implement the EC decision was 3 January 2017 and Vestager said that even though it had been a year since the ruling, Ireland has still not recovered even part of the money.

"We of course understand that recovery in certain cases may be more complex than in others, and we are always ready to assist. But member states need to make sufficient progress to restore competition. That is why we have today decided to refer Ireland to the EU Court for failing to implement our decision."

Last December Apple joined together with the Irish government in a formal appeal against the ruling.

The EC said on Wednesday that until the back taxes are recovered, any company benefiting from illegal state aid "continues to benefit from an illegal advantage, which is why recovery must happen as quickly as possible".

If an EU member does not comply with a state aid judgment, the EC may ask the ECJ to impose penalty payments.