Peter Cussons considers the European Commission’s requests for information on certain Member States’ tax ruling practices.
On 12 September the press reported that DG Competition had requested information from Ireland Luxembourg and the Netherlands regarding some of their tax ruling practices. DG Competition is the directorate general of the Commission which oversees compliance of the Member States with the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) State aid provisions. The Commission has confirmed that this is not currently a formal State aid investigation: ‘The Commission is simply gathering information about tax rulings. Requests for information have been sent to several Member States’ said a Commission spokesperson.
Why does this matter?
If a formal State aid investigation is subsequently opened and the Commission reaches a...
