Amazon defeats EU in bid to collect $303 million in taxes
May 17, 2021
BRUSSELS, Belgium: In a setback to competition chief Margrethe Vestager’s campaign against preferential deals, Amazon won its fight against an EU order to pay about $303 million in back taxes to Luxembourg.
The bloc failed to show that Luxembourg had given the U.S. online retailer special treatment in violation of state aid rules, the EU’s General Court ruled on May 12.
The ruling follows Vestager’s landmark defeat against Apple last year, which had contested an order that it pay $15 billion in Irish back taxes.
Both Amazon and Apple were targeted by Vestager in a crusade to weed out tax deals used by EU states, including Luxembourg and the Netherlands, to attract large companies.