Apple tax ruling saw Government revenue rise to €46bn in third quarter of 2024

General government revenue was €17.6bn higher compared to the same period in 2023

Tue, 21 Jan, 2025 - 11:26

Emer Walsh

The European Union's (EU) Court of Justice ruling on Apple saw government revenue rise to €46.4bn between July and September, which was €17.6bn higher than in the same period in 2023.

New figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Tuesday show that the significant increase was helped by a large one-off transfer of more than €14bn to the Irish exchequer arising from the Apple tax verdict in September last year.

Europe's highest court ruled against tech giant Apple in its final legal bid against a €13bn tax order which the European Commission said it must pay to Ireland.

The Commission was successful in setting aside a 2020 ruling which overturned its original decision that Apple had underpaid taxes to the value of €13.1bn which was due to the Irish authorities between 2003 and 2014.

Excluding the capital transfer from the tech giant, the government surplus would be just over €1.7bn, the CSO noted.

"Today’s results show that total government revenue rose to €46.4bn, which was €17.6bn higher than in Q3 2023," said Paul McElvaney, Statistician in the Government Accounts Compilation & Outputs Division.

"This was driven primarily by an increase in capital transfer revenue of €14.1bn. Taxes and social contributions also grew by €3.5bn."

Meanwhile, general government expenditure also increased, reaching €30.5bn, which was €1.5bn higher than in the same three-month period in 2023.

"This was across a range of items, with increases driven by pay, social benefits, gross fixed capital formation and capital transfers," Mr McElvaney said.

This resulted in a general government balance of €15.9bn between July and September 2024, compared with -€0.2bn in the same period in 2023.

The general government gross debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio was 42.2% at the end of the three months, the CSO added.