- Title: EU court rejects EU order to Starbucks to pay Dutch back taxes
- Date: 24th September 2019
- Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - 2018) (REUTERS) STARBUCKS STAFF AT WORK STARBUCKS SIGN IN WINDOW
- Embargoed: 8th October 2019 12:31
- Keywords: European Union EU European Court of Justice ECJ Court Starbucks Coffee
- Location: LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG / BRUSSELS, BELGIUM / LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG / BRUSSELS, BELGIUM / LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: Luxembourg
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA003AY0PCNB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Starbucks won its fight on Tuesday (September 24) against an EU demand to pay up to 30 million euros in Dutch back taxes.
The case was part of European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager's crackdown on unlawful tax breaks offered by EU countries to multinationals, which has also extended to Apple's Irish deal and Amazon's Luxembourg deal, among others.
The EU competition enforcer failed to show that the U.S. coffee chain benefited unfairly from the Dutch tax deal, the court said.
The judgement shows that the General Court, Europe's second-highest court, in general endorses the European Commission's methodology in its tax crackdown but stipulates the Commission must do its homework properly to prove its case - potentially a bad omen for Apple fighting a record 13-billion-euro Irish tax order.
Starbucks welcomed the ruling, saying it had not received any special tax treatment from the Netherlands and that it "pays all of its taxes wherever they are due".
(Production Clement Rossignol, Hortense de Roffignac) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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