Amazon fights against EUR 250 million bill in Luxembourg tax arrangement

The constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the General Court of the EU is hearing the case of the European Commission against Amazon claiming it received illegal tax benefits from Luxembourg. The commission’s investigation had concluded that; the tax arrangement with Luxembourg allowed Amazon to shift profits from one subsidiary to another; allowing them to reduce European profits on paper and allegedly benefit from a tax deal in a secret arrangement called Project Goldcrest. With more than 2 200 employees, Amazon is among Luxembourg’s top employers. According to the Irish Times, ‘Luxembourg is accusing the EU regulator of having exploited state-aid rules ‘to undertake covert fiscal harmonisation on transfer pricing’ and violated the nation’s exclusive powers to decide on tax matters’.