EU orders Apple to pay up to 13 bln euros tax to Ireland

BRUSSELS, Aug 30 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators ordered Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) on Tuesday to pay up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in taxes to the Irish government after ruling that a special scheme to route profits through Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) was illegal state aid.

The massive sum, some 40 times bigger than the previous known demand by the European Commission to a company in such a case, could be reduced, the EU executive said in a statement, if other countries sought more tax themselves from the U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . tech giant.

Apple, which with Ireland, has already said it will appeal the decision, paid a tax rate on European profits of between 0.005 and 1 percent, the Commission said. ($1 = 0.8954 euros) (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald)