Taoiseach expects Apple tax case to take 'many years'

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says Ireland will begin collecting more than €13bn in taxes from Apple "within months."

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says Ireland will begin collecting more than €13bn in taxes from Apple "within months."

Mr Varadkar is joining a host of global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos today.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV this morning, he said the Apple tax case could be in the courts for "many years".

He confirmed that a special holding account has now been set up to store the funds while legal proceedings are ongoing.

He said: "We will collect it, but what we have to do in order to collect it is set up an escrow account. That's been established now and we anticipate collecting the money in quarter two this year.

"But we are absolutely disputing the case, it's not quite a tax case, it's a state aid case, and the allegation is that Ireland had some sort of special deal with Apple, but we didn't.

"We believe we can prove that in the courts."