Brussels, 15/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is reported to be very close to announcing decisions on two specific cases of state aid granted by means of tax rulings.
Readers may recall that in June 2014, the Commission opened investigations into decisions made by Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg regarding corporate tax to be paid by Apple, Starbucks and Fiat Finance and Trade respectively (see EUROPE 11098).
Having examined the calculations used to determine the tax base in these three specific tax rulings, the Commission explained that it had concerns that the national tax authorities had allowed multinationals to reduce their taxable income, de facto giving them a selective advantage. Later, in October 2014, it opened a similar investigation into a ruling granted to Amazon in Luxembourg (see EUROPE 11115). Lastly, in February 2015, it opened an investigation into the Belgian system of early tax decisions regarding surplus profits (see EUROPE 11245). Although it has not opened a formal investigation so far, it is also still looking very closely at the case of McDonald's in Luxembourg (see EUROPE 11287) and the system in Gibraltar is the subject of an in-depth investigation.
A number of corroborative sources ruled out the likelihood that the two decisions the Commission is expected to announce on Wednesday of next week (21 October) concern Apple, meaning that it can be reasonably assumed to be Starbucks and Fiat. Although the Commissioner in charge of the dossier, Margrethe Vestager, met the Dutch finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, this week, in his capacity as president of the Eurogroup, she is not believed to have met with a representative from the Luxembourg authorities, contrary to reports on the American website Politico. The Commissioner also cancelled a trip to China, scheduled for 14 and 15 October, due to “important issues requiring her presence and full attention in Brussels”. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)