Amazon Wins $274m Tax Battle With EU

Defeat for European Commission after court rules Amazon does not have to pay 250m euros in back taxes to Luxembourg.
The European Commission and EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager have been handed a defeat in their attempts to crack down on corporate tax avoidance.
The ruling by the EU's top court is final, which ends the long-running legal battle over tax arrangements between Amazon and Luxembourg.
The EU continues to pursue other big name tech giants over their 'sweetheart' tax arrangements with countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg.
Europe's top court this week endorsed the lower court's ruling that the European Commission had not proved its case that Amazon received illegal state support.
The tax case dates back to 2017 when Margrethe Vestager had charged Amazon with unfairly profiting from special low tax conditions since 2003 in Luxembourg.
Amazon's European headquarters are based in Luxembourg.
As a result, almost three-quarters of Amazon's profits in the EU were not taxed, Vestager had alleged.
The European Commission has pursued these 'sweetheart' tax arrangements between big name firms and certain countries, with mixed success.
Earlier this month, French utility Engie won its fight against an EU order to pay 120 million euros in back taxes to Luxembourg.
The European Commission is also continuing to pursue its high profile case against Apple, after an EU lower court in 2020 had ruled in favour of Apple, overturning a 13-billion-euro tax order made against Apple by the Commission.
In October 2021 the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reached an agreement on a global corporation tax rate, sounding the beginning of the end for global corporations utilising low-taxing countries to limit their corporate tax obligations.
That agreement saw 136 countries and jurisdictions agreeing a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent.
The arrival of this global corporate tax law is slated for 2024.

This Cyber News was published on www.silicon.co.uk. Publication date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 12:13:05 +0000