As we’ve blogged about before, the OECD’s been busy working on its BEPS plan to try to make the worldwide tax system more joined up – and limit some of the mismatches that multi-national and other companies have for years (completely legally) used to reduce their tax bills. Talks with the company ahead of the decision were “frank”, she said. “@vestager pls check what they pay asap!”
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She replied: “I will”.
Given the large tax fee, Vestager said, “I think basically the very large figure is just an illustration of a very successful, very big company”.
The visit included a meeting Monday with U.S. Treasury SecretaryJack Lew, who has been bluntly critical of a series of European Union investigations into taxes paid by American companies on profits held outside the U.S.
European Commissioner for Competition Margarethe Vestager has justified this decisions as a way to stop “cozy” relationships and break “unfair competition”.
In its letter, Business Roundtable said the EU’s decision to recover $14.5 billion from Apple for alleged illegal state aid “must not be allowed to stand”. She noted, “EU member states have a sovereign right to determine their own tax laws”. The Financial Times reported that the potential tax bill in the country could be $500 million. Funneling European profits to Luxembourg may cost McDonald’s $500 million, while Amazon and Google’s parent company Alphabet are also being investigated for tax dealings in Europe. For me it raises an important question of principle of who should be deciding global tax policy for multi-national corporations and other companies – including investment funds – that operate on a cross-border basis in Europe.
McDonald’s could be following in the same direction as Apple – after it was claimed that the tech giant could be ordered to pay nearly £400 million in back taxes.
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Material from other Globe wire services was also used in this story.
