Update on European Commission State Aid investigations Global Tax Alert

14 November 2014
Global Tax Alert
News from EU Tax Services
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Update on European
Commission State Aid
investigations
In June 2014, the European Commission announced that it was launching three
in-depth investigations to examine whether decisions by tax authorities in Ireland,
the Netherlands and Luxembourg with regard to the corporate income tax to be
paid by certain named multinationals comply with the EU rules on State Aid. The
Commission already published in September the formal letters that were sent to
the Irish and Luxembourg tax authorities in June, setting out its position in their
respective cases. Now the Commission also has published the formal letter that
was sent to the Dutch tax authorities in June articulating its position in this case.
The investigations are focused on transfer pricing rulings where the Commission
has stated that it is examining whether the contested rulings comply with the arm’s
length principle and confer an advantage on the taxpayers.
The publication of the letters is the next procedural step in the State Aid investigation
process. At this stage, the Commission has not finally decided that there is State Aid
only that it is of the preliminary view that the measures may constitute State Aid and
that it formally continues to examine these cases.
It is expected that a final decision in relation to these investigations will take a
considerable period of time. Once the letter and accompanying summary has been
published in the Official Journal of the European Union, interested parties will have
one month to submit their comments directly to the European Commission.
The authorities in Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands previously announced
that they believe the rulings under investigation do comply with the required tax
standards in their respective countries. Ireland has already issued a formal response
to the Commission earlier this month. The Dutch authorities emphasized in their
June response that the Commission itself confirmed that the Netherlands has a
robust and solid Advance Pricing Agreement and Advance Tax Ruling practice.
For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following:
Ernst & Young GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Munich
• Dr. Klaus von Brocke
+49 89 14331 12287
[email protected]
Ernst & Young Belastingadviseurs LLP, Amsterdam
• Danny Oosterhoff
+31 88 407 1007
• Eric Westerburgen
+31 88 407 2310
[email protected]
[email protected]
Ernst & Young Belastingadviseurs LLP, Rotterdam
• Michiel Swets
+31 88 407 8517
[email protected]
Ernst & Young LLP, Belgium-Netherlands Tax Desk, New York
• Dirk Stalenhoef
+1 212 773 3390
[email protected]
Ernst & Young LLP, Belgium-Netherlands Tax Desk, Chicago
• Erwin Sieders
+1 312 879 2338
[email protected]
Ernst & Young (China) Advisory Limited, Belgium-Netherlands Tax Desk, Shanghai
• Bas Leenders
+86 21 2228 4782
[email protected]
2
Ernst & Young LLP, Dutch Tax Desk, London
• Jelger Buitelaar
+44 20 795 15648
[email protected]
EY Tax Advisory Services S.à r.l., Luxembourg
• Marc Schmitz
+352 42 124 7352
• John Hames
+352 42 124 7256
[email protected]
[email protected]
Ernst & Young LLP, Luxembourg Tax Desk, New York
• Jurjan Wouda Kuipers
+1 212 773 6464
[email protected]
Ernst & Young LLP, Luxembourg Tax Desk, Chicago
• Alexandre Pouchard
+1 312 879 3007
[email protected]
Ernst & Young (Ireland), Dublin
• Joe Bollard
+353 1 221 2457
[email protected]
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