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EU: Commission to order Luxembourg to collect multimillion Amazon tax

By  |  October 3, 2017

According to Financial Times, the European Union’s antitrust regulator is set to order Luxembourg to retrieve roughly several hundreds of millions of euros in allegedly unpaid taxes from Amazon.com as soon as Wednesday, October 4, according to people familiar with the matter.

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    The decision would come amid a renewed crackdown by the EU, which has promised to scrutinize tax arrangements between its various member states and big multinationals operating in Europe.

    Regulators in Brussels have homed in on sweetheart tax deals governments have issued to large multinationals in allegedly illegal state aid. Last August, the European Commission ordered Apple to repay Ireland €13 billion (US$15 billion) in what it said was uncollected taxes, a ruling both Apple and Ireland are contesting.

    Luxembourg’s tax practices in particular came under the spotlight after leaked documents revealed details of hundreds of highly favorable deals it has granted to companies including PepsiCo and FedEx.

    Since the Apple decision, Amazon has stood out as one of the largest targets that have been under investigation by the EU. The commission is also continuing to investigate Luxembourg’s tax treatment of McDonald’s and Engie.

    The commission first opened its formal probe into Amazon’s tax arrangements with Luxembourg in October 2014, arguing that a 2003 tax deal granted to Amazon in Luxembourg effectively caps the US company’s tax payments in the Grand Duchy.

    Full Content: Financial Times

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