EC rules Luxembourg gave €250m illegal tax benefits to Amazon

European Commission has concluded that Luxembourg granted undue tax benefits to Amazon of around €250m. In a statement issued today (4 October), the EC Commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, said: “Luxembourg gave illegal tax benefits to Amazon. As a result, almost three quarters of Amazon’s profits were not taxed. In other words, Amazon was allowed to pay four times less tax than other local companies subject to the same national tax rules. This is illegal under EU State aid rules. Member States cannot give selective tax benefits to multinational groups that are not available to others.”

The EC ruling and investigation centred on a tax ruling issued by Luxembourg in 2003, and prolonged in 2011, which the EC claimed “lowered the tax paid by Amazon in Luxembourg without any valid justification”.