Apple, Google, Amazon, Starbucks and more. The European Commission wants to bring to the dock the advantageous tax regimes that several multinationals can take advantage of by exploiting the laws of countries such as Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. This was reported by Dow Jones, citing anonymous sources from the European Union, according to which the matter will be the subject of official announcements during a press conference today.
The Commission intends to launch a formal investigation to find out whether these advantageous tax regimes do not in fact constitute state aid in favor of these large companies with activities - and related sales revenues - branched out in several countries.
All in the context of the efforts that the EU executive has been making for some time to counter tax evasion and avoidance. If the investigation concludes that there is state aid, this could in theory even lead to a restitution claim but, concludes DJ, this is rarely the case.
