Luxembourg defends tax regime
(CS) The Luxembourg Finance Ministry on Thursday published a statement defending its tax regime, following the launch of an EU probe into deals with multinationals in several members states.
The investigation aims to determine whether special tax deals could amount to illegal state aid. Affected companies include Apple, Starbucks, Google, Amazon and Fiat, with Ireland and the Netherlands also under scrutiny.
The formal procedure announced by the EU on Wednesday is only the latest in a series of challenges. A statement by the government said that Luxembourg has cooperated closely over the past months with EU authorities to clear the matter.
However, the government has also refused to supply some documents, saying that the requests made by the Commission to supply these is illegal. Luxembourg has filed an appeal against the requests, and doubts over the legality of the demands have not been resolved, it said.
Meanwhile, the government conceded that it cannot exclude that measures in place could be considered as state aid in individual cases. It therefore remains willing to cooperate with the European Commission within the latter’s remit.
“Luxembourg is confident that the procedural steps to follow will allow it to successfully defend its position and to show that both in terms of advance decisions on tax matters and in regards to the taxation of intellectual property, Luxembourg has not granted illegal state aid to companies,” the statement concluded.
