Apple receipts at core of €4.1bn Exchequer surplus at end of March
By Cillian Sherlock, PA
Ireland has recorded a €4.1 billion Exchequer surplus for the end of March as the country moves into a period of heightened uncertainty under new US tariffs on the EU.
The Department of Finance said this figure compares with €300 million in the same period last year.
Most of the improvement comes from receipts from Apple back taxes owed to Ireland after a judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in September.
Without those receipts, the surplus was €900 million.
Ireland is in the process of recovering more than €13 billion – plus interest – in corporation tax from the US tech giant after the European Commission successfully argued that Apple had been given undue tax benefits that were illegal under EU state aid rules.
Apple and the Government had argued that the correct amount of tax had been paid and fought the commission on the matter in a years-long legal dispute.
The ruling was criticised by US President Donald Trump when he met Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the White House last month.
The decision formed part of Mr Trump’s criticism of the EU which he said had not been “fair” to Apple.
The president said: “The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and, frankly, by incompetent US leadership.”
Mr Martin said Ireland had “fought with” Apple on the matter after the president said the iPhone manufacturer had been “treated very badly”.
“It’s the European Union, isn’t it? The European Union is going after our companies,” Mr Trump said when asked if Apple should relocate from Dublin back to the US.
He added: “I’m not happy with the European Union and we’re going to win that financial battle.”
He said previous presidents had “lost big segments” of the US economy, adding that the “European Union treats us very badly”.
“They have not been fair. They sue our companies and win massive amounts of money. They sued Apple, won 17 billion US dollars and they use that for other reasons, I guess, to run the European Union.
“So I’m not knocking it. They’re doing what they should be doing, perhaps, for the European Union, but it does create ill will – and as you know, we’re going to be doing reciprocal tariffs so whatever they charge us with, we’re charging them. Nobody can complain about that.”
Mr Trump announced a 20% tariff on most EU exports on Wednesday, with some exceptions – thought to be temporary – for sectors including pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.
Ireland’s tax revenue to the end of March was €23.6 billion, which was 3.5 billion – or 17.5 per cent – ahead of the same period last year. However, when the Apple revenues are excluded, underlying tax receipts were 21.9 billion euro.
Gross revenue to the end of March was €31.3 billion, a 22 per cent increase on the March 2024 position of 5.6 billion euro.
Non-tax revenue and capital resources were €3.3 billion, up by €2.1 billion on March 2024, largely driven by transfers to the Exchequer arising from the CJEU ruling, mainly consisting of EU interest. Appropriations-in-aid of €4.5 billion took total other revenue to €7.7 billion.
Total expenditure to the end of March was €27.2 billion. Of this, gross voted expenditure was €24.8 billion, which was €2 billion ahead of the same period last year.
Non-voted expenditure was down €200 million to €2.4 billion.
Roughly €4.8 billion was collected in corporation taxes throughout the first quarter of the year, up €2.3 billion on last year – or €600 million ahead of the figure for the end of March 2024 figure when the Apple receipts are excluded.
