EU Court To Hear Fiat Appeal On Tax Deal

The European Union’s top court will this week hear an appeal by the Irish Government against a decision of the European Commission requiring car manufacturer Fiat Chrysler to repay about €30 million (US$36.4 million) to Luxembourg.

The case before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will examine separate challenges by Fiat Chrysler, Luxembourg and Ireland against the finding of its general court in September 2019 that the company’s tax deal with the Luxembourg government constituted illegal State aid.

The Government is appealing a case in which it is a third party because it is seen as relevant to Ireland’s own ongoing legal battle with the European Commission over its finding in 2016 that the Irish tax authorities should recover an estimated €13 billion (US$15.8 billion) in unpaid taxes from Apple. 

As part of its crackdown on tax avoidance by large multinationals, the Commission has made a number of findings in recent years against some of the best-known global corporations, including Apple, Amazon, Fiat Chrysler, and Starbucks, requiring them to repay large sums of unpaid taxes.

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