This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Ireland’s government has fully recovered more than €14bn (£12.4bn) in disputed taxes and interest from Apple, which it will hold in an escrow fund pending its appeal against a European Union tax ruling.

The European commission ruled in August 2016 that Apple had received unfair tax incentives from the Irish government. Both Apple and Dublin are appealing against the original ruling, saying the iPhone maker’s tax treatment was in line with Irish and EU law.

Ireland’s finance ministry, which began collecting the back taxes in a series of payments in May, estimated last year the total amount could have reached €15bn including EU interest. In the end the amount was €13.1bn in back taxes plus €1.2bn interest.

While the €14.3bn would be enough to fund the country’s health service for a year, the government said it had never given any company a special deal and that the appeal was important to preserve Ireland’s attractiveness for investment.

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“While the government fundamentally disagrees with the commission’s analysis and is seeking an annulment of that decision, as committed members of the European Union, we have always confirmed that we would recover the alleged state aid,” the Irish finance minister, Paschal Donohoe, said in a statement.

Ireland has appointed investment managers to oversee the disputed cash, whom Donohoe said would make low-risk investment decisions and the Irish taxpayer would be protected from any losses.

For its part, the commission said it would scrap its lawsuit against Ireland, which it initiated last year because of delays in recovering the money.

“In light of the full payment by Apple of the illegal state aid it had received from Ireland, commissioner (Margrethe) Vestager will be proposing to the college of commissioners the withdrawal of this court action,” the commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said.

Ireland’s finance ministry said its appeal had been granted priority status and is progressing through the various stages of private written proceedings before the general court of the European Union (GCEU), Europe’s second highest court.

The matter will likely take several years to be settled by the European courts, it added.