Apple’s tax bill from its British shops fell by more than 60% to just £3.8m last year, despite the American giant’s £1.2bn UK sales.

Pre-tax profits ticked up to £33.7m, although sales fell by £23m in the year to the end of last September. It paid a £13m dividend to its parent in Ireland, newly filed accounts for Apple Retail UK show.

For years, Apple has banked its European profits in Ireland, which has a low corporation tax rate, but in August 2016 the European Commission ruled that a sweetheart deal with Dublin amounted to billions of pounds of illegal state aid.

Ireland collected more than €14bn (£12.3bn) in back taxes and interest from Apple last September on the orders of Brussels. The cash is