Starbucks Wins, Fiat Loses In EU Tax Fights

Starbucks won its fight on Tuesday against an EU demand to pay up to €30 million in Dutch back taxes, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles lost its challenge against an order to stump up a similar amount to Luxembourg.

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Both cases were part of European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s crackdown on unlawful tax breaks offered by EU countries to multinationals, which has also extended to Apple’s Irish deal and Amazon’s Luxembourg deal, among others.

The judgments show that the General Court, Europe’s second-highest court, in general endorses the European Commission’s methodology in its tax crackdown but stipulates the Commission must do its homework properly to prove its case — potentially a bad omen for Apple fighting a record €13-billion Irish tax order.

In Starbucks’ case, the EU competition enforcer failed to show that the US coffee chain benefited unfairly from the Dutch tax deal, the court said.