Apple Pays $17.1 Billion in Taxes to Ireland

Apple Inc. paid $17.1 billion in taxes to Ireland during the fiscal year ending September 2025, representing approximately 40% of its $43.2 billion total global income tax liabilities. The payment was significantly higher than typical accrued taxes because it included approximately €13 billion in back taxes and interest.

These payments follow a September 2024 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which upheld a 2016 European Commission decision that Ireland had granted Apple illegal state aid through unlawful tax advantages. Both the company and the Irish government fought the order in court for a decade. The disputed funds had been held in a special escrow account, which Ireland's Department of Finance closed in July 2025 to transfer approximately €14.25 billion to the exchequer.

The disclosures were made for the first time under new European Union public country-by-country reporting rules for multinationals with revenues exceeding 750 million. Filings reveal that Apple's Irish-assigned operations generated $213.5 billion in revenue in 2025, with roughly one-quarter of the company's pre-tax global profits recorded through Irish entities despite the country hosting only 3% of its global workforce. In other EU markets, such as Germany, Apple reported $2.72 billion in revenue and $153.5 million in income taxes.