Apple pays first batch of $15.3B back taxes to Ireland

Apple paid the first 1.5 billion euros of the $15.3 billion it owes to Ireland in back taxes, the country’s finance minister, Paschal Donohoe, said Friday.

The EU decided that Apple owed Ireland the multibillion-dollar sum in 2016 after establishing what it deemed to be unfair tax arrangements with the country.

{mosads}Apple is set to keep making payments that will sit an escrow account as the tech giant and Ireland try to appeal the European Union (EU) ruling that Apple pay back the country.

The European Commission, the executive branch of the EU that handed down the decision, has been pressuring Ireland to recover the money since 2016.

The ruling against Apple has been followed by EU action against other American tech companies.

In the past year, the commission handed down a $122 million fine to Facebook for giving misleading statements during its acquisition of messaging company WhatsApp and lodged a record $2.7 billion fine against Google over antitrust concerns.