The European Commission has opened several in-depth investigations to determine whether or not the tax rulings on excess profit granted by the Belgian authorities to 39 multinational companies have given them or not given them an unfair advantage.
These decisions follow a judgment of the General Court of the European Union of February 2019 annulling for procedural reasons the Commission's decision of January 2016 finding State aid incompatible with European Union law (see EUROPE 11465/1).
These in-depth investigations therefore concern 39 Belgian companies belonging to multinational groups. The decisions on excess profit have allowed companies to deduct from Belgian corporation tax so-called "excess" profit resulting from benefits arising from their membership in a multinational group. As a result of these Brussels decisions, the accounting profit of the companies concerned was reduced by more than 50% for the majority of them, and in some cases by 90%.
The Commission is concerned that these tax rulings may have disadvantaged some other competing companies and thus created a selective advantage for the 39 multinational companies in question. That is why the Commission has opened in-depth investigations. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)