European court orders Apple to pay 13 billion euros in back taxes

Europe’s top court has cracked down on Apple as the company has been ordered to pay 13 billion euros (roughly $14.4 billion) in back taxes to Ireland.

This marks the end of the decade-long court battle and was concluded just a day after the iPhone maker had announced its upcoming product line-up.

The European Court of Justice has agreed that Apple had unduly benefited from unfair loopholes in Ireland’s tax regime, meaning the company must now pay back payments.

It was in 2016 when EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager claimed that Ireland had granted illegal benefits to the California-based company, suggesting this allowed them to pay less tax than other businesses.

The European Commission had previously launched an investigation into Apple’s tax payments in Ireland two years prior, in 2014.

Vestager describes the judgment as being a “huge win for European citizens and tax justice.”

Today is a huge win for European citizens and tax justice.