Luxembourg accedes to EU antitrust demand to divulge tax data
(Reuters) – Luxembourg acceded on Thursday to the demand of the European Commission to release data to further EU antitrust regulators’ investigation into whether it allowed multinationals to pay excessively low taxes.
The European Commission launched investigations this year into whether U.S. retailer Amazon (AMZN.O) and a unit of Italian carmaker Fiat (FCHA.MI) benefited from unfair state aid to the detriment of competitors as a result of Luxembourg’s tax arrangements.
It simultaneously looked into the treatment of Starbucks (SBUX.O) by the Netherlands and Apple (AAPL.O) by Ireland.
International criticism of the tiny state’s tax practices intensified a month ago with media revelations based on leaked documents, dubbed “LuxLeaks”. Much has focused on Jean-Claude Juncker, the long-time prime minister of Luxembourg who took over as the EU’s chief executive last month.
On Wednesday, the Commission said it was expanding its investigation to cover all member states, looking at tax rulings and tax privileges concerning intellectual property (IP).
Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said the Commission’s decision to widen its focus beyond Luxembourg to the whole of Europe had convinced his government to provide the Commission with a list of its tax rulings and beneficiaries of IP tax incentives.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she was very pleased Luxembourg had decided to comply with the Commission’s request.
“We need to take action, and are taking action, to ensure companies pay their fair share of tax,” she said in a statement, adding she hoped to see Luxembourg and other authorities cooperating in efforts to tackle unfair tax avoidance.
Luxembourg had already agreed to give details of its tax deals with foreign firms to governments that ask for them, but rejected the demands of the EU competition agents, as they were not a tax authority.
Separately on Thursday, Luxembourg’s parliament passed a series of measures designed to make its tax system more transparent, including plans to publish an annual list of tax rulings, albeit without identifying companies or individuals.
