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The
Commission ordered Apple to pay Ireland the unpaid taxes after
ruling in August that the iPhone maker won sweetheart tax deals
from Dublin amounting to illegal state aid. The Irish government
and Apple have appealed the demand.
The Commission said it expected that the amount owed would total
13 billion euros plus interest but required Ireland to calculate
the exact sums based on the methodology designed and set out in
the ruling.
"So far my officials haven't indicated to me that it's going to
seriously overrun the 13 (billion euros) or come seriously short
of the 13, but there are other years to be assessed and so on,"
Finance Minister Michael Noonan told a parliamentary committee,
referring to the 10-year period the calculations are based on.
Noonan said Irish officials were still negotiating the terms of
a ring-fenced escrow fund where the back taxes will be held
pending the outcome of the appeals process, which the Irish
government has said could take four or five years.
Ireland requested an extension to complete the collection of the
funds after a formal deadline for doing so elapsed last month.
The EU's antitrust regulator said on Tuesday that the Commission
was satisfied with Ireland's progress to date.
(This version of the story was refiled to remove extraneous word
in paragraph 4)
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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