#StateAid：委员会发现卢森堡向#Amazon提供非法的税收优惠，价值约为250万欧元

负责竞争政策的专员玛格丽特·韦斯特格（Margrethe Vestager）说：“卢森堡向亚马逊提供了非法税收优惠。结果，几乎四分之三的亚马逊利润都未征税。换句话说，亚马逊被允许缴纳的税款比其他地方少四倍遵守相同国家税法的公司。根据欧盟国家援助法，这是非法的。成员国不能向其他人无法获得的跨国集团提供选择性税收优惠。

经深入调查 2014十月推出委员会得出结论认为，卢森堡在2003发行的税收裁定，并在2011中延期，降低了亚马逊在卢森堡支付的税款，没有任何正当理由。

The tax ruling enabled Amazon to shift the vast majority of its profits from an Amazon group company that is subject to tax in Luxembourg (Amazon EU) to a company which is not subject to tax (Amazon Europe Holding Technologies).这项税收裁定使亚马逊能够将其绝大部分利润从在卢森堡受税的亚马逊集团公司（亚马逊欧洲）转移到不受税的公司（亚马逊欧洲控股技术公司）。 In particular, the tax ruling endorsed the payment of a royalty from Amazon EU to Amazon Europe Holding Technologies, which significantly reduced Amazon EU's taxable profits.特别是，该税收裁定批准了从亚马逊欧盟向亚马逊欧洲控股技术公司支付特许权使用费，这大大降低了亚马逊欧盟的应税利润。

The Commission's investigation showed that the level of the royalty payments, endorsed by the tax ruling, was inflated and did not reflect economic reality.委员会的调查表明，税收裁决认可的特许权使用费水平被夸大了，并没有反映经济现实。 On this basis, the Commission concluded that the tax ruling granted a selective economic advantage to Amazon by allowing the group to pay less tax than other companies subject to the same national tax rules.在此基础上，委员会得出结论认为，该税收裁定允许亚马逊集团比其他受相同国家税收规则约束的公司少缴税，从而为亚马逊提供了选择性的经济优势。 In fact, the ruling enabled Amazon to avoid taxation on three quarters of the profits it made from all Amazon sales in the EU.实际上，该裁决使亚马逊能够避免对其在欧盟的所有亚马逊销售所获得的利润的四分之三征税。

亚马逊在欧洲的结构

The Commission decision concerns Luxembourg's tax treatment of two companies in the Amazon group – Amazon EU and Amazon Europe Holding Technologies.欧盟委员会的决定涉及卢森堡对亚马逊集团中的两家公司（亚马逊欧盟和亚马逊欧洲控股技术公司）的税收待遇。 Both are Luxembourg-incorporated companies that are fully-owned by the Amazon group and ultimately controlled by the US parent, Amazon.com, Inc.两家都是在卢森堡注册成立的公司，由亚马逊集团全资拥有，并最终由美国母公司Amazon.com，Inc.控制。

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• Amazon EU（“运营公司”）在整个欧洲经营Amazon的零售业务。 2014年，它有500多名员工，他们在亚马逊在欧洲的网站上选择要出售的商品，从制造商那里购买商品，并管理在线销售和向客户交付商品。客户在欧洲的任何亚马逊网站上购买产品的方式都是通过合同从卢森堡的运营公司购买产品。 This way, Amazon recorded all European sales, and the profits stemming from these sales, in Luxembourg.这样，亚马逊在卢森堡记录了所有欧洲销售以及来自这些销售的利润。

• Amazon Europe Holding Technologies (the "holding company") is a limited partnership with no employees, no offices and no business activities.亚马逊欧洲控股技术有限公司（“控股公司”）是一家有限合伙企业，没有雇员，没有办公室，也没有任何商业活动。 The holding company acts as an intermediary between the operating company and Amazon in the US.控股公司是运营公司与美国亚马逊之间的中介。 It holds certain intellectual property rights for Europe under a so-called "cost-sharing agreement" with Amazon in the US.根据与美国亚马逊达成的“成本分摊协议”，它在欧洲拥有某些知识产权。 The holding company itself makes no active use of this intellectual property.控股公司本身并未积极使用该知识产权。 It merely grants an exclusive license to this intellectual property to the operating company, which uses it to run Amazon's European retail business.它仅向运营公司授予该知识产权的专有许可，该运营公司将其用于运营亚马逊的欧洲零售业务。

根据成本分摊协议，控股公司每年向美国亚马逊付款，为发展知识产权的成本作出贡献。 这些付款的适当水平最近由美国税务法庭确定。

Under Luxembourg's general tax laws, the operating company is subject to corporate taxation in Luxembourg, whilst the holding company is not because of its legal form, a limited partnership.Profits recorded by the holding company are only taxed at the level of the partners and not at the level of the holding company itself.根据卢森堡的一般税法，运营公司在卢森堡须缴纳公司税，而控股公司则不受其法律形式的有限合伙制影响，控股公司记录的利润仅按合伙人的水平征税控股公司本身的水平。 The holding company's partners were located in the US and have so far deferred their tax liability.控股公司的合作伙伴位于美国，迄今已将其应纳税额递延。

亚马逊在5月2006和6月2014之间实施了这一结构，并受到调查税务裁决的认可。 亚马逊在6月的2014上改变了在欧洲的业务。 这种新的结构不在委员会国家援助调查的范围之内。

委员会的调查范围

The role of EU State aid control is to ensure member states do not give selected companies a better tax treatment than others, via tax rulings or otherwise.欧盟国家援助控制的作用是确保成员国不会通过税收裁定或其他方式给予选定的公司比其他公司更好的税收待遇。 More specifically, transactions between companies in a corporate group must be priced in a way that reflects economic reality.更具体地说，公司集团中公司之间的交易必须以反映经济现实的方式定价。 This means that the payments between two companies in the same group should be in line with arrangements that take place under commercial conditions between independent businesses (so-called "arm's length principle").这意味着同一组中的两家公司之间的付款应与独立企业之间在商业条件下进行的安排一致（所谓的“公平原则”）。

The Commission's State aid investigation concerned a tax ruling issued by Luxembourgto Amazon in 2003 and prolonged in 2011. This ruling endorsed a method to calculate the taxable base of the operating company.委员会的国家援助调查涉及卢森堡于XNUMX年发布的一项税收裁定，并于XNUMX年延长。该裁定认可了一种计算运营公司应税基数的方法。 Indirectly, it also endorsed a method to calculate annual payments from the operating company to the holding company for the rights to the Amazon intellectual property, which were used only by the operating company.间接地，它还认可了一种方法，用于计算从运营公司向控股公司支付的亚马逊知识产权的年度付款，该费用仅由运营公司使用。

These payments exceeded, on average, 90% of the operating company's operating profits.这些付款平均超过了运营公司营业利润的1.5％。 They weresignificantly (XNUMX times) higher than what the holding company needed to pay to Amazon in the US under the cost-sharing agreement.这些价格比控股公司根据成本分摊协议向美国亚马逊支付的价格高得多（XNUMX倍）。

To be clear, the Commission investigation did not question that the holding company owned the intellectual property rights that it licensed to the operating company, nor the regular payments the holding company made to Amazon in the US to develop this intellectual property.明确地说，委员会的调查没有质疑控股公司拥有其许可给运营公司的知识产权，也没有质疑控股公司向美国亚马逊支付的定期付款以开发该知识产权。 It also did not question Luxembourg's general tax system as such.它也没有质疑卢森堡的一般税收制度。

委员会评​​估

The Commission's State aid investigation concluded that the Luxembourg tax ruling endorsed an unjustified method to calculate Amazon's taxable profits in Luxembourg.该委员会的国家援助调查得出结论，卢森堡的税收裁决认可了一种不合理的方法来计算亚马逊在卢森堡的应税利润。 In particular, the level of the royalty payment from the operating company to the holding company was inflated and did not reflect economic reality.特别是，从运营公司向控股公司支付的特许权使用费水平被夸大了，并没有反映经济现实。

• The operating company was the only entity actively taking decisions and carrying out activities related to Amazon's European retail business.该运营公司是唯一积极做出决定并开展与亚马逊欧洲零售业务有关的活动的实体。 As mentioned, its staff selected the goods for sale, bought them from manufacturers, and managed the online sale and the delivery of products to the customer.如前所述，其员工选择了待售商品，从制造商那里购买了商品，并管理了在线销售和向客户交付产品。 The operating company also adapted the technology and software behind the Amazon e-commerce platform in Europe, and invested in marketing and gathered customer data.该运营公司还改编了欧洲Amazon电子商务平台背后的技术和软件，并投资于营销和收集客户数据。 This means that it managed and added value to the intellectual property rights licensed to it.这意味着它管理并增加了许可给它的知识产权的价值。
• 控股公司是一个空壳，只是将知识产权转交给运营公司独家使用。 控股公司本身并不以任何方式积极参与该知识产权的管理，开发或使用。 它没有，也不能执行任何活动，以证明其收到的使用费水平是合理的。

Under the method endorsed by the tax ruling, the operating company's taxable profits were reduced to a quarter of what they were in reality.根据税收裁决认可的方法，运营公司的应税利润减少到了实际收入的四分之一。 Almost three quarters of Amazon's profits were unduly attributed to the holding company, where they remained untaxed.亚马逊近四分之三的利润都不适当地归控股公司所有，它们仍未缴税。 In fact, the ruling enabled Amazon to avoid taxation on three quarters of the profits it made from all Amazon sales in the EU.实际上，该裁决使亚马逊能够避免对其在欧盟的所有亚马逊销售所获得的利润的四分之三征税。

On this basis, the Commission concluded that the tax ruling issued by Luxembourg endorsed payments between two companies in the same group, which are not in line with economic reality.在此基础上，委员会得出结论，卢森堡发布的税收裁定认可同一集团中两家公司之间的付款，这与经济现实不符。 As a result, the tax ruling enabled Amazon to pay substantially less tax than other companies.结果，该税收裁定使亚马逊能够比其他公司少付多少税。 Therefore, the Commission decision found that Luxembourg's tax treatment of Amazon under the tax ruling is illegal under EU State aid rules.因此，欧盟委员会的裁决发现，根据欧盟国家援助规则，卢森堡根据税收裁定对亚马逊的税收待遇是非法的。

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修复工具

原则上，欧盟国家援助规则要求国家援助不相容，以消除援助造成的竞争扭曲。 欧盟国家援助规则没有罚款，恢复不会对有关公司造成任何惩罚。 它只是恢复与其他公司的平等待遇。

In today's decision, the Commission has set out the methodology to calculate the value of the competitive advantage granted to Amazon, ie the difference between what the company paid in taxes and what it would have been liable to pay without the tax ruling.在今天的决定中，委员会已经确定了计算授予亚马逊的竞争优势价值的方法，即公司缴纳的税款与不经税收裁定应缴纳的税款之间的差额。 On the basis of available information, this is estimated to be around €250 million, plus interest.根据现有信息，这笔费用估计约为XNUMX亿欧元，外加利息。 The tax authorities of Luxembourg must now determine the precise amount of unpaid tax in Luxembourg, on the basis of the methodology established in the decision.卢森堡税务机关现在必须根据该决定中确定的方法，确定卢森堡未缴税款的确切金额。

背景

自六月六日以来，委员会一直在调查成员国的税收裁定做法。 它将这一信息查询扩展到所有成员国 在十二月2014中。在 2015年 十月委员会的结论是，卢森堡和荷兰分别向菲亚特和星巴克提供了选择性的税收优惠。 在 2016 年 XNUMX 月, the Commission concluded that selective tax advantages granted by Belgium to least 35 multinationals, mainly from the EU, under its "excess profit" tax scheme are illegal under EU State aid rules.委员会得出结论认为，根据欧盟国家援助规则，比利时根据其“超额利润”税制向至少XNUMX个跨国公司（主要来自欧盟）授予选择性税收优惠是违法的。 In在 2016年XNUMX月委员会的结论是，爱尔兰向苹果公司提供高达十亿欧元的不适当的税收优惠。 委员会还对卢森堡的税收裁定可能引起国家援助问题的担忧进行了两次深入的调查 麦当劳 和 GDF苏伊士 （现在恩吉）。

本委员会对公平的税收和更大的透明度采取了深远的战略，最近我们取得了重大进展。 根据委员会3月份2015的税务透明度建议，税务裁决信息自动交换的新规则 2017一月生效。 会员国也同意 将其自动交换信息扩大到逐国报告 跨国公司的税务财务信息。 现在提出一项建议，以便公开这些信息。 新 欧盟规定通过非欧盟国家防止避税 于2005年5月2017通过完成反避税指令（ATAD），确保在整个单一市场上实施有约束力和强力的反滥用措施。

关于正在进行的立法工作，委员会关于重新启动的提案 常见统一公司税基 在十月份，2016将成为欧盟避免避税的有力工具。 委员会在六月六日提出 中介机构的新透明度规则 -包括税务顾问-他们为客户设计和推广税收筹划方案。 This legislation will help to bring about a much greater degree of transparency and deter the use of tax rulings as an instrument for tax abuse.这项立法将有助于提高透明度，并阻止使用税收裁定作为滥用税收的手段。 Finally, just this September the Commission launched a new EU agenda to ensure that the digital economy is taxed in a fair and growth-friendly way.最后，就在今年XNUMX月，欧盟委员会启动了新的欧盟议程，以确保数字经济以公平，友好的增长方式征税。 Our我们的 沟通 列出了成员国在解决这一紧迫问题上目前面临的挑战，并概述了在委员会于2018年提出提案之前可能探索的解决方案。委员会的所有工作都基于一个简单的原则，即所有大小公司必须在赚钱的地方纳税。

非机密版本的决定将根据案件编号提供 SA.38944 ，在 国家援助登记册 在委员会的 大赛网站 一旦任何保密问题得到解决。 该 国家援助周刊电子报 列出了新的互联网上，并在欧盟官方公报上国家援助的决定出版物。