PAC to review payments from Apple escrow account once worth €14.3bn

Report by Comptroller and Auditor General published earlier this year showed the value of the account had fallen again in 2021, by €351m, and was then worth just over €13.6bn

Escrow account set up in 2018 after European Commission ruled Apple owed the State €14.3bn in back taxes.

The Public Accounts Committee, or Pac, plans to review payments from the €14.3bn Apple escrow account since the fund was set up four years ago.

A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General published earlier this year showed the value of the account had fallen again in 2021, by €351m, and was then worth just over €13.6bn.  

It was the fourth year the value of the account had fallen after taking into account so-called third-country tax payments, expenses, and losses incurred from negative bond rates. 

The escrow account was set up in April 2018 and included €13.1bn in back tax and €1.2bn in interest for a total of €14.3bn that was originally assessed that Apple owed the State in back taxes following a ruling by the EU Commission.  

The legal wrangle involving the commission continued after Apple with the support of the Government successfully appealed the decision, but the escrow account remains in place as the EU Commission prepares for a final appeal to the 2020 ruling that Apple didn't receive illegal state aid from Ireland after all. 

Pac said it planned to assess the operation of the account and the likely date for a hearing of the EU Commission's final appeal at the European Court of Justice.