Brussels accuses Ireland and Luxembourg of having favored Apple and Fiat respectively at a tax level. The investigations ofEuropean antitrust they also concern Starbucks and were announced before the summer. Today, after various indiscretions, the EU has made official with the publication, the letters addressed to Dublin and Luxembourg with which the three events are reconstructed.
In the wake of the news, at the end of the morning the Fiat share lost more than 2% in Piazza Affari (7,75 euros), suffering the worst fall of the Ftse Mib. In the same minutes the Euro Stoxx auto index was in the red by 0,7%.
In detail, according to Brussels, "the preliminary agreement on prices" between the tax authorities of Luxembourg e Fiat Finance and Trade, a company that deals with financing and treasury of the Lingotto, establishes state aid, violating the competition rules of the EU internal market.
"At the present stage - reads the document published today - the Commission does not have any elements indicating that the measure could be considered compatible with the internal market". In the European sights is the agreement on the transfer prices of transactions within the group for taxation purposes.
This is a 2012 agreement, accepted on 3 September by the Luxembourg authorities on the basis of the proposal made by Kpmg, a consultant to Lingotto. According to the European Antitrust, the agreement “does not comply with the arm's length principle”: on the contrary, it represents an annual benefit reserved for Fiat between 2012 and 2016.
As for Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),, Brussels asks Dublin for more details on the tax agreements reached with the Cupertino giant in 1990 and 2007. Commissioner Joaquin Almunia was clear: "According to the preliminary opinion of the Commission, we are dealing with state aid". The Commission writes that the 1991 tax base is "the result of a negotiation" rather than a correct and transparent calculation.
