Irish government could gift every citizen €2,500 amid Apple tax windfall

A lot has been said about the European Court of Justice's ruling this week that means Ireland must collect more than €13 billion in underpaid taxes from technology giant Apple.

The court set aside the judgment of the lower General Court which previously overturned the Commission’s 2016 ruling that Apple had underpaid the huge amount between 2003 and 2014. 

The huge sum of money has been in a so-called escrow account ever-since but it seems the Irish government has to collect it. We've been crunching the numbers and while hosting an Olympic Games, which would cost €8b, may be tempting, the Government could do something far simpler with the money to benefit ever pocket in Ireland.

If the Government were to decide to split the money between the 5.1m people living in the Republic of Ireland, each citizen would receive around €2,500. 

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It's unclear what the Government will do with the money but they have said it won't impact the upcoming Budget because it could take months for the money to come through. 

While it's unlikely the Government will dish out money to everyone in the country, they will now be under pressure to explain what will happen to the money before a General Election which could come before the end of the year and will definitely occur before next summer.