EU concludes proceedings against Amazon for insufficient tax burden

One year after a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union in this regard, the EU Commission has finally accepted that Amazon does not have to pay back millions in taxes in Luxembourg. "Taking into account all the findings of the EU Courts, we have today concluded that Fiat, Amazon and Starbucks have not received a selective advantage over other companies," explained the responsible EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on Thursday. She was referring to similar rulings. After seven years, the dispute is now over.

Major defeat for the EU Commission

In 2017, the EU Commission had declared that, in its opinion, Luxembourg had granted the online retailer unlawful tax concessions and had to reclaim the money. The background to this was a tax ruling that allowed Amazon to shift "the majority of its profits" from one part of the company that was subject to Luxembourg tax law to another where this was not the case. As a result, almost three quarters of Amazon's profits were not taxed, Vestager claimed at the time.

In May 2021 , however, the General Court of the European Union annulled the Commission's decision. It had not been sufficiently proven that the tax burden had been unjustly reduced. Two and a half years later, the Court of Justice of the European Union also confirmed this in principle. It was a bitter defeat for the Commission. This is another reason why Vestager is now referring once again to a victory before the ECJ: in September, the Court ruled that Apple must pay Ireland 13 billion euros because the company had actually received an unlawful tax rebate there.

(mho)