Apple Takes a Step on Payment of Back Taxes to Ireland

European Commission had ordered the move, saying Irish had treated the company too generously

Apple Inc. completed an agreement with Ireland enabling the company to transfer roughly €13 billion ($16 billion) into a Dublin escrow account, in a step toward complying with a European Commission tax order.

The executive body of the European Union ruled in 2016 that Apple had underreported profit in Ireland over more than a decade because of two tax deals with the Irish government. The EU viewed the tax treatment as illegal state aid that must be repaid. Ireland and Apple, which has a large facility in the city of Cork,...