Tax reductions in Luxembourg (Amazon)
18.5.2021
Question for written answer E-002658/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Hélène Laporte (ID)
On 12 May 2021, the European Court of Justice endorsed the tax reductions Amazon had received in Luxembourg, inflicting a setback on Commission, which viewed them as illegal state aid and had demanded that the EUR 250 million concerned be repaid.
The EU’s executive considered that Amazon had benefited from illegal benefits, thanks to a 2003 agreement, renewed in 2011, that allowed it to avoid paying tax on nearly three quarters of its profits in the country where its European headquarters are based.
The Commission had assessed the undue benefits at EUR 250 million and had ordered in October 2017 that they be repaid. But Luxembourg and Amazon filed an appeal with the court.
- 1.Will the Commission alter its rules on illegal state aid after having already lost face against Apple in July 2020 in the same court?
- 2.Can the Commission say how much is lost in tax revenues in Europe because of this aggressive tax dumping?
- 3.Does it want to wait, or not, for corporate taxation to be overhauled internationally, with a global minimum tax rate for companies established, in order to put an end to the extremely favourable tax treatment major corporations receive in some countries in the European Union?