On 10 and 19 September the Court of Justice of the European Union issued judgments in the Apple and UK CFC finance exemption cases on how the EU’s state aid rules apply to tax regimes and rulings. These follow three other judgments in the past two years, in the Fiat, Engie and Amazon cases. Now is therefore a good time to take stock. This memo:
- describes the state aid rules and the Commission’s investigations into tax rulings;
- summarises the five recent Court of Justice judgments, focusing on the Apple and UK CFC finance exemption cases and looking at the facts underlying the Commission’s decision, the case history and the judgments; and
- analyses their implications. In particular –
- How do the state aid rules apply to tax?
- What is the Commission’s next move?
- What are the practical implications for multinationals?