Luxembourg could appeal against the EU’s $294mn Amazon tax bill: FinMin

Luxembourg is assessing whether to appeal against the European Union’s order to reclaim nearly $300 million in unpaid taxes from Amazon, the country’s finance minister has told CNBC on Tuesday.

“We do not seem to agree, we considered that there was no state aid on our side, there was no selective advantage that was given to the company we are talking about,” Pierre Gramegna said Monday at the sidelines of a European meeting.

“We are going to review all our possibilities and eventually appeal. The decision has not been taken,” he said.

Brussels announced last week that Luxembourg gave illegal tax benefits to Amazon between 2006 and 2014 without any “valid justification.” As a result, the country has to recover the unpaid taxes.

Following the European Union’s decision, Luxembourg said it “refers to a period going back to 2006. Over time, both the international and the Luxembourg legal frameworks have substantially evolved.”

Speaking to CNBC on Monday, Gramegna said that “we shouldn’t look at a situation that happened 10 or 15 years ago with the eyes of today.”

Tax issues are a long-standing problem for the EU. Back in December, Ireland also appealed against a Commission ruling to collect $15.2 billion in unpaid taxes from Apple.

More than a year after its initial order, Brussels decided to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice last week for failing to recover the unpaid taxes from Apple.

“It is extremely regrettable that the Commission has taken this action, especially in relation to a case with such a large scale recovery amount,” the Irish authorities said in a statement.

Source: CNBC