Amazon wins its battle with the European Commission. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the highest level, ruled this Thursday in favor of the e-commerce giant in the open dispute over alleged illegal tax aid from Luxembourg, which amounted to 250 million euros.
The case dates back to 2017, when Brussels considered that the tax advantages worth around €250 million that Amazon had benefited from in Luxembourg between 2006 and 2014 were contrary to community law. In his opinion, the e-commerce giant had been able to pay “significantly less” taxes for several years “without apparent justification.” That allowed it to avoid paying taxes on “almost three-quarters of the profits” made through its sales in the EU.
Both Luxembourg and Amazon appealed the decision and the General Court of the EU ruled in May 2021 that the existence of an “advantage” comparable to state aid had not been demonstrated. The court therefore annulled Brussels’ decision to demand reimbursement. The European Commission then presented an appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union, which was finally rejected today.
The CJEU believes that the Commission was wrong to invoke a principle of competition that is not included in Luxembourg tax law and to use guidelines from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that do not appear in its national legislation either.
“The Court of Justice confirms the appealed ruling: the Commission’s decision had to be annulled, in any case, because of this erroneous determination of the reference system, instead of for the reasons given by the General Court,” he summarizes in a statement. the CJEU, whose ruling is binding.
The decision is another setback after the court annulled the demand that Apple pay 13 billion euros in back taxes, one of the star cases of Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
