European Commission loses EU court battle over Amazon tax bill
Embarrassing setback comes less than a year after Apple defeated Brussels with appeal against huge tax clawback order
12 May 2021 • 4:13pm
The European Commission suffered an embarrassing defeat in its court battle with Amazon on Wednesday, after EU judges cancelled Brussels’ order that Luxembourg recoup about £215m in back taxes from the US tech giant.
The victory for Amazon is another setback for Margrethe Vestager, who leads the EU’s powerful competition authority and had accused Luxembourg of signing sweetheart tax deals with the company that amounted to illegal state aid.
EU silent on Amazon s zero corporate tax scandal
Amazon reported $8.1bn [€6.74bn] globally in quarterly net income - up 224 percent from the same period in the previous year (Photo: palomaleca)
Brussels, Today, 07:04
The European Commission says it cannot comment on revelations that Amazon paid no corporate tax in Europe last year, despite recording more than €40bn in sales income there during the pandemic. I am not going to go into the details of these press articles, a commission spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday (4 May), when pressed.
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Biden administration widens digital tax push to target world's 100 largest companies politico.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from politico.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Progress on EU public CbCR is a significant move forward on tax transparency
In what has been described by tax justice campaigners as a landmark move forward on tax transparency, the EU ministers in the Competitiveness Council (COMPET) agreed on February 25 that public CbCR should be introduced.
The proposal only passed after Slovenia and Austria supported it. However, the legislation needs to include certain safeguards and be limited to reporting requirements on companies in EU member states or in the jurisdictions listed on the EU tax blacklist.
Although 14 countries backed public CbCR, ministers representing Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Cyprus were either against it or abstained. If all countries choose to formally adopt the proposal in writing next week, the measure will move forward to negotiations in the EU Council and EU Parliament.
| UPDATED: 12:14, Wed, Jan 6, 2021
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They are calling for Brussels to withhold legal permits allowing UK bankers and fund managers easy access to the single market until the changes are made. Senior members of the European Parliament’s green group have claimed the new UK-EU trade and security deal doesn’t contain stringent enough measures on financial transparency and corporate taxation. In a letter to Brussels boss Ursula von der Leyen and Brexit chief Michel Barnier, the MEPs insist the bloc should be doing more to prevent the UK from undercutting the EU.