Fiat Chrysler has managed to avoid a European Union court order that it would have to pay €30 million ($30 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg.
European Union antitrust chief Margrethe Vestarger concluded in 2015 that Luxembourg had granted Fiat Chrysler an unfair tax advantage by endorsing artificial and complex methods to lower the company’s taxes. While a lower tribunal had backed her decision in 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union has disagreed with the judgment.
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Reuters says that judges criticized the European Union competition watchdog for its analysis of the system it used to determine if Luxembourg had given a selective advantage to Fiat.
“Only the national law applicable in the member state concerned must be taken into account in order to identify the reference system for direct taxation, that identification being itself an essential prerequisite for assessing not only the existence of an advantage, but also whether it is selective in nature,” the court said.
In a statement, Stellantis said it was pleased with the outcome, noting the Commision was incorrect to view its tax ruling as unlawful state aid.
Verstager has previously issued a €13 billion tax order for Apple and Amazon’s Luxembourg deal and is also investigating the Dutch tax deals of Ikea and Nike, Huhtamakai’s tax deal with Luxembourg, and Belgium’s tax deals with some 39 multinational companies.
