Apple has paid the first portion of its €13.5 billion tax bill to Ireland

The Minister for Finance maintains that the aid is only "alleged".

Apple has paid the first portion of its €13.5 billion tax bill to the Irish State, the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform has confirmed. Minister Paschal Donohoe TD confirmed on Friday that Ireland collected a tranche of €1.5 billion as part of the "alleged State aid" from the corporation, which was deposited into the escrow fund. "This is the first of a series of payments with the expectation that the remaining tranches will flow into the fund during [the second and third quarters] of 2018 as previously outlined," a statement from the Minister reads. The Minister however, went on to state that no further official comments would be released on the collection of this "alleged State aid until the full recovery has been effected" at the end of September 2018. The news comes after the Irish government reached an agreement with Apple to pay the contested tax bill back in December 2017. Payment of these back taxes had been ordered by the European Commission, after it was concluded that the tech giants had received unfair tax incentives in Ireland. Both the State and Apple have contested the ruling, with the matter currently awaiting a European Court of Justice decision. Prior to any court ruling, the money will be paid into the escrow account, which is a temporary pass-through account held by a third party during the process of a transaction between both parties concerned.