Apple Inc. was ordered to pay as much as 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) plus interest after the European Commission said Ireland illegally slashed the iPhone maker’s tax bill, in a record crackdown on fiscal loopholes that also risks inflaming tensions with the U.S. according Bloomberg Technology

The world’s richest company benefited from selective tax treatment that gave it an unfair advantage over other businesses, the European Union regulator said Tuesday.

It’s the largest tax penalty in a three year campaign against corporate tax avoidance.

However, Apple and the Republic of Ireland have both vowed to fight the decision in the EU courts.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager twitter page reads;



Ireland allowed Apple to pay an effective corporate tax rate of 1 percent on its European profits in 2003 down to 0.005 percent in 2014, according to the EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.