TECH giant Apple has paid the first portion of it's €13 billion tax bill to the Irish state today.
The payment was announced by Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Pascal Donohoe TD, earlier today.
The company paid €1.5 billion of the €13 billion sum into the Escrow Fund, which is a legal concept that allows the money to be kept by a third party until the transaction is completed.
In other words, the government cannot spend the money until the entire sum is paid.
The remainder of the payments will be paid in two more instalments, one in quarter two of this year and the last in quarter three of this year.
Apple was ordered to repay their tax bill to the Irish State by the European Commission, despite the Irish Government appealing the decision.
An official government statement said: "The Government does not accept the Commission’s analysis in the Apple State aid decision and have lodged an appeal with the European Courts.
"However, we have always been clear that we are fully committed to ensuring that recovery of the alleged Apple state aid takes place without delay and have committed significant resources to ensuring this is achieved."
The decision came after it was ruled that Apple had received unfair tax incentives from the Irish Government.
The Department of Finance said it will release a full official statement on the matter when the final amount is paid at the end of Q3 in August.
