EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager has hailed the judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as "a big win for EU citizens and tax justice".
Ms Vestager told a news conference it was also a win for the European Commission and the level playing field of the EU’s internal market.
She said the ECJ’s ruling was final and that €13bn - now €14.1bn including interest - in taxes that should have been paid by Apple, via two Irish-based subsidiaries, should now be released to the Irish State.
The European Commissioner told a news conference: "In the decision in 2016 the Commission concluded that two Irish tax rulings constituted illegal state aid.
"They had artificially lowered taxes paid by Apple in Ireland since 1991. The Commission considered this to be a misapplication of Irish tax rules."
Ms Vestager added that two Irish tax arrangements for Apple, agreed in 1991 and 2007, meant the bulk of taxable profits were attributable to two Apple subsidiaries, incorporated in Ireland.
"These tax rulings attributed the bulk of taxable profits of two Irish subsidiaries of Apple to what was a stateless head office.
"These head offices existed only on paper, no tables, no chairs, no activities. The profits were thus not taxed anywhere," she said.
Ms Vestager said in 2011, one of Apple's Irish subsidiaries recorded profits of €16bn.
"Thanks to the tax rulings, only €50m were taxable in Ireland, so the subsidiary paid less than €10m of taxes in Ireland in 2011 - an effective tax rate of 0.05%."
She added: "Apple should have paid taxes worth €13bn on all related profits in Ireland. This means that the recovered taxes, which have been on an escrow account now for quite some years in Ireland during these ongoing court proceedings, must be released to the Irish State."
