Brussels archives the cases of illegal tax advantages to Amazon, Fiat and Starbucks after losing its defense in European Justice

The European Commission reported this Thursday of its decision to archive investigations in depth opened by alleged illegal tax advantages to Fiat in Luxembourg and to Amazon and Starbucks in the Netherlands, a closure of files that Brussels announces after it lost before the European Justice the defense of the first measures taken within the framework of these three files.

In 2015 and 2017, the Community Executive ruled against the fiscal architecture that they enjoyed Fiat in Luxembourg and Amazon and Starbucks in the Netherlands considering that the national authorities offered them selective tailored systems to artificially reduce the taxes that these companies should pay.

However, the firms appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union who annulled the first decisions of the community services, which considered the aid illegal, which led to the respective detailed investigation files remaining open in Brussels.

Now, the European Commission concludes that the guidelines set by the European High Court lead it to conclude that neither Luxembourg nor the Netherlands granted selective tax advantages «contrary to EU rules regarding State aid” to the companies in question and, therefore, the files must be archived.