Amazon wins court fight over $300 mln tax ruling - ARAB TIMES arabtimesonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from arabtimesonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In the latest setback to European Union efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance, a court on Wednesday annulled a ruling by the European Commission that a tax deal between Amazon and Luxembourgâs government amounted to illegal state support.
The EUâs executive branch ordered the US online retailer in 2017 to pay around 250 million euros ($300 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg. But judges at the EUâs General Court said the European Commission didnât prove âto the requisite legal standard that there was an undue reduction of the tax burden of a European subsidiary of the Amazon group.â
Amazon said it welcomed the courtâs decision, which is âin line with our long-standing position that we followed all applicable laws and that Amazon received no special treatment,â the company said in a statement. âWeâre pleased that the Court has made this clear, and we can continue to focus on delivering for our customers across Europe.â
Amazon wins its appeal at the European General Court
The European Commission did not prove that Amazon had secured an “undue reduction” in its tax base, according to a May 12 ruling by the General Court. As a result, the court found that there was “no selective advantage” in favour of Amazon’s Luxembourg-based subsidiary.
The court, which is a constituent court of the European Court of Justice (CJEU), said the Commission’s 2017 findings on the case were “incorrect in several respects”. This is a serious blow to the Commission’s efforts to curtail what it sees as abusive tax structures perpetrated by multinational enterprises (MNEs) such as Apple.
Amazon has €250m back taxes bill overturned in court accountancydaily.co - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from accountancydaily.co Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
May 13, 2021 11:59:39 am
The EU’s General Court on Wednesday annulled a European Commission decision from 2017, in which the Commission had found that a tax deal between the Luxembourg government and multinational tech company Amazon amounted to “illegal state aid.”
In 2017, Amazon was ordered by the European Commission, the EU’s politically independent executive arm, to pay approximately €250 million (USD $303 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg. The original decision was made in order to tackle corporate tax avoidance related to Luxembourg’s tax treatment of two companies in the Amazon group: Amazon EU and Amazon Europe Holding Technologies. It was argued by Margrethe Vestager, the EU official in charge of antitrust issues, that Amazon had unfairly profited from special low tax conditions since 2003 in Luxembourg, which is where its European headquarters are based. As a result of this, three-quarters of Amazon’s profits in the EU were not taxed.