CJEU - Recent Developments in Direct Taxation 2020

S. 1801. Introduction

State aid scrutiny in the area of direct taxation has certainly come a long way in the last few decades, and the General Court’s 2020 decision in Apple, which spans 72 pages and 509 paragraphs, exemplifies the current complexity of State aid review of the Member States’ tax measures, specifically tax rulings. Indeed, the Commission has taken a special interest in the State aid implications of Member States’ tax rulings for multinational enterprises (MNEs). Starting with an examination of the tax ruling practice of some Member States in June 2013 and a further extension of information enquiries to all Member States, it has begun proceedings with regard to transfer pricing rulings in an initial package of cases concerning Apple,Starbucks,Fiat and Amazon in 2014, and continued on that S. 181path with respect to other transfer pricing and non-transfer pricing rulings and general ruling practices. Moreover, the European Parliament voiced its concerns regarding tax rulings in connection with illegal State aid in 2015, and the EU Commission subsequently laid out its general policy on State aid and tax rulings in 2016. The intensity of this discussion is mirrored in legal scholars...