Apple paid Ireland $17 billion last year as EU back-tax case came due

Apple paid Ireland $17 billion in corporate income taxes in 2025, representing 40% of its worldwide total, according to new tax disclosures reported by The Financial Times. This amount included back taxes from a prolonged EU dispute that concluded in 2024, following the European Court of Justice's ruling that Ireland had provided unlawful state aid to the tech giant.

The EU's highest court upheld an order requiring Ireland to recover up to €13 billion in unpaid taxes. The financial disclosures revealed that a quarter of Apple's global pre-tax profits in the year ending September 2025 were recorded through its Irish entities, which also employed about 3% of the company's workforce. Apple's pre-tax profits per employee in Ireland were $6 million, compared to $51,000 in Germany, where the company paid $153 million in cash taxes, or 0.3% of its total.

Despite denying unlawful state aid and claiming compliance with Irish tax law, Apple argued that the profits in question were derived from US-developed intellectual property and should therefore be taxed in the United States. The EU's top court disagreed, siding with the European Commission, which contended that two Irish tax rulings permitted Apple to attribute most of its profits to "head offices" lacking employees or physical premises.

Apple maintained that the reported figures capture only corporate income taxes linked to asset locations, not other taxes like VAT, which are based on customers' locations. In response to the disclosures, Apple asserted its status as one of the world's largest taxpayers and argued that the new figures do not reflect the complete tax burden it bears across various jurisdictions.