Apple’s French division confirmed the tax payment agreement but did not disclose how much it had agreed to pay.

The French press has been putting the sum at around $571 million, but that seems a little light given how much Apple must have avoided over the years by funnelling its earnings through Ireland where it paid very little tax.

Apple  France said that a multinational company, Apple was regularly audited by fiscal authorities around the world. The French tax administration recently concluded a multi-year audit on the company’s French accounts, and "those details will be published in our public accounts”.

The French government is still pushing for a European Union-wide tax on the world’s top digital and software companies.