European Commission adopts temporary State aid framework enabling EU Member States to support their economies during the COVID-19 crisis
The European Commission adopted a temporary framework setting out the possibilities for EU Member States to support the economy during the COVID-19 crisis on 19 March 2020 under the European State aid rules. Such framework set outs the possibilities under which EU Member States can enact legislation and take actions to provide state support to
European Commission opens State aid investigation into Luxembourg’s tax treatment of Huhtamäki
On 7 March 2019, the European Commission (EC) announced the opening of an in-depth State aid investigation in a number of tax rulings granted by Luxembourg to Huhtamäki. This decision is another important decision in a range of decisions dealing with the taxation of intra-group financing activities. A brief explanation of the decision can be found
European Court annuls the decision of the European Commission that Excess Profit rulings are State Aid
The General Court decided that the European Commission has made an error in its decision where it concluded that the Belgian excess profit regime resulted in a so-called ‘State aid scheme’. As a result of this approach under a State aid scheme (rather than assessing each of the rulings involved), the European Commission limited its
EU Commission takes next steps against Ireland and Luxembourg in Apple and Amazon State aid cases
On October 4, 2017, the European Commission (EC) continued its ongoing challenges to Member States’ transfer pricing tax regimes by advancing two high profile cases to the next stages. In the Apple case, the EC referred Ireland to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for failing to enforce an August 2016 State aid recovery decision,
Non-confidential version of the EC’s State aid opening decision in GDF Suez published
On 5 January 2017, the European Commission (“EC”) published its opening decision in the formal investigation into Luxembourg tax rulings obtained by entities of GDF Suez. The opening decision dated 19 September 2016 explains the reasons for the initiation of the formal investigation and the additional information requested from Luxembourg in order to reach a
Law implementing recovery procedure with regard to the Belgian excess profit provision adopted
Belgium has adopted on 22 December 2016 the law covering the implementation of the European Commission (‘EC’) decision of 11 January 2016 (‘Decision’) with regard to the Belgian excess profit provision based on Article 185 §2 of Belgian Income Tax Code 1992 (‘BITC’). The law, which has been drafted in cooperation and with the approval
EU Commission Notice on notion of State aid
On 19 May 2016, the EU Commission (EC) published its final Notice on the notion of State aid. The Notice updates the EC’s Notice on the application of the State aid rules to various measures including those relating to direct business taxation (98/C 384/03), which essentially sets out the EC’s view on how State aid
EU Commission’s final decisions in Starbucks and Fiat state aid cases
On 21 October 2015, the European Commission decided that Luxembourg and the Netherlands have granted selective tax advantages to Fiat Finance and Trade and Starbucks, respectively. These are illegal under EU state aid rules. For more information on the key aspects of the investigation and its impact, please have a look at our news alert.
