The European Commission has closed three in-depth State aid investigations into transfer pricing tax rulings granted by Luxembourg to Fiat and Amazon, and by the Netherlands to Starbucks. Following judgments by the EU Courts, the Commission found that the tax rulings did not grant the companies selective advantages.
In 2015 and 2017, the Commission found that Luxembourg granted selective tax advantages to Fiat and Amazon, and the Netherlands to Starbucks, in breach of EU State aid rules. In each case, the Commission found that a tax ruling issued by the respective national tax authority artificially lowered the tax paid by each company and therefore granted them a selective advantage over other companies. The Commission’s original decisions in all three cases were ultimately annulled by the EU Courts and therefore the respective in-depth investigations remained open.
Today, taking into account the guidance of the EU Courts, the Commission has adopted three final decisions closing its in-depth investigations and confirming that, when granting their respective tax rulings, Luxembourg and the Netherlands did not give these Fiat, Amazon and Starbucks selective tax advantages contrary to EU State aid rules.
Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “The EU Courts have confirmed in the recent Apple judgment that the Commission was right in challenging certain aggressive tax ruling practices. In other judgments, they have also set the benchmark to assess tax planning practices under EU State aid rules. Today, taking into account all of the EU Courts findings, we have concluded that Fiat, Amazon, and Starbucks did not receive a selective advantage over other companies.”
A press release is available online.
