Ireland will today be ordered to recoup billions of euro in tax arrears from Apple.
The European Commission is set to declare that Ireland allowed the firm to avoid corporate tax by agreeing a special tax deal.
The ruling due this morning has been three years in the making and while it may be what Ireland expected, it is not what the government wanted.
Competition commissioner Margarethe Vestager will publish the findings of a long-running inquiry into Apple’s tax status in Ireland.
And the Commission will claim that the company reached a private deal with the Revenue Commissioners - in short, negotiating its corporate tax rate when other firms did not have the same luxury.
Both Ireland and Apple deny the claims and both have said they will appeal.
But in the meantime Ireland will be told to reassess Apple’s tax bill - which could see the technology giant hand over billions in taxes going back years.
That money will be kept to one side while the two parties appeal to the European courts.
