Amazon will not have to pay 250 million euros ($263 million) in back taxes to the European Union. This was said by the executive authority of the block on Wednesday the closure of three separate state aid investigationsincluding Amazon. The ruling ends one of the company’s longest-running legal sagas.
European Commission in 2017 found that from 2006 to 2014, Amazon used an operating company in Luxembourg to pay significantly less tax to the European Union. The shell company had no offices or staff and, according to the Commission, was only used by Amazon to reduce its tax liability. According to the commission’s calculations, the e-commerce giant evaded tax on three-quarters of all profits from online sales in the EU during that period.
in 2021but Amazon won an appeal against the decision. Although the company changed its tax structure after the investigation, it claimed at the time that the Commission’s decision was full of “methodological errors”. He also said the payments were legal under international tax principles, which he agreed after Europe’s second-highest court found that Amazon’s structure did not favor other companies. Later, the court annulled the decision of the Commission.
In a statement this week, the Commission said it “takes into account the guidance of the EU Courts” in closing the case against Amazon. Amazon did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment.
Although the end of its lawsuit against Amazon was a setback for the European Commission, the body won earlier this year A decisive victory against Apple. In September, Europe’s highest court ordered the tech giant to repay a €13 billion ($14.4 billion) tax break it received from Ireland. Illegal in 2016.
