If you are wondering on how to get away with corporate back taxes, Amazon is the right company to ask as it is no longer required to pay a whopping $263 million in back taxes to the European Union. This was thanks to the recent decision by the European Commission to end its state aid case against the renowned e-commerce company after over seven years since it was prosecuted.
However, it is known that Amazon previously appealed the ruling and won it against the Commission but it took them three years before they finally closed the book on this significant case against the tech giant.
Amazon No Longer Has to Pay $263M in EU Back Taxes
The European Commission announced that it already closed three of its state aid cases in the region, with Amazon taking a massive win after many years of being embroiled in this taxation fiasco. In Amazon's case specifically, the e-commerce giant is no longer required to pay the huge $263 million sum in back taxes (€250 million) to Luxembourg after it was discovered by the Commission and ruled against in 2017.
It was revealed that from 2006 to 2014, Amazon resorted to using an operating company in Luxembourg to significantly lower the tax to be paid to the European Union, with the front not having any employees or offices.
However, Amazon won its appeal against the European Commission's ruling to the EU courts where they argued that their actions are legal as per international tax principles, where it was later discovered that this did not give the e-commerce giant unfair advantages over other companies.
European Commission's State Aid Cases
There were three companies whose state aid cases were closed by the Commission earlier today, with Fiat Chrysler and Amazon for their operations in Luxembourg and Starbucks for their tax rulings in the Netherlands.
All three companies were successful in avoiding the need to pay the back taxes as per the Commission's recent decision, particularly as their 'selective tax advantages' were not found to be against the EU State aid rules.
EU Tax Troubles for Big Tech
Apple is known for its years-long massive tax troubles with the European Commission after it was ruled by the international organization to pay Ireland a whopping $14 billion in unpaid taxes after a three-year investigation. However, the Irish authorities claimed that the EU 'interfered' with the country's tax affairs when it fined Apple, previously appealing this case alongside Cupertino against the Commission.
That being said, a previous ruling earlier this September gave the win to the European Commission where Apple is now required to settle its tax bill with the whopping sum, after almost a decade.
However, the European Union also targeted many Big Tech companies in the world regarding the unpaid taxes that resulted from special deals from the European Union member countries they had dealt with. Apart from Apple, the likes of Google, McDonald's, IKEA, HSBC, InBev, and more faced a massive investigation for their unpaid taxes, but these companies claimed that they were compliant with tax laws.
After years of fighting against the European Commission regarding their back taxes, Amazon now takes the win and is clear of the scrutinies it faced in the EU, and the company is getting away with paying $263 million after its state aid case.
