E.U., Citing Amazon and Apple, Tells Nations to Collect Tax<br />“We believe that Amazon did not receive any special treatment from Luxembourg,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday, adding<br />that it “paid tax in full accordance with both Luxembourg and international tax law.”<br />Amazon said it would study the commission’s ruling and was considering whether to appeal<br />In the case of Amazon, the commission said that Luxembourg had conferred “an advantage on Amazon,” one<br />that the company “obtained every year” and that was “granted in a selective manner.” That arrangement essentially capped the amount of tax that the retailer paid, and relied on a method known as transfer pricing.<br />The move by Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition commissioner, came as regulators ordered Luxembourg<br />to collect around 250 million euros, or about $293 million, in unpaid taxes from Amazon, the online retail behemoth.<br />The European Commission said that Amazon had abused this system by sending most of its European revenue to a Luxembourg subsidiary<br />that was not liable to pay corporate tax, helping the company cut its overall bill.<br />In the latest move, Ms. Vestager ordered Luxembourg to reclaim back taxes from Amazon linked to an agreement between the country and the retailer<br />that the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said dated to 2003.<br />BRUSSELS — Europe’s competition chief said on Wednesday<br />that she was taking Ireland to court over the country’s failure to collect a huge bill for back taxes from Apple, as officials from the Continent mounted a push against alleged abuses of regional tax rules by Silicon Valley giants.
