Amazon.com may have received illegal state aid from tax authorities in Luxembourg, where the company has a subsidiary that records most of its European profit, according to the European Commission.

The commission is investigating the company’s tax affairs because it is concerned that it gained an unfair economic advantage by paying less tax than other companies.

A decision by tax authorities in Luxembourg regarding the corporate income tax Amazon should pay there could violate EU state aid rules, the European Commission said Tuesday.

The Amazon investigation is part of a crackdown on tax practices by EU countries that often seem to favor large companies. The commission has already started an investigation into whether Apple profited from state aid said to be worth billions of euros through favorable tax treatment from the Irish government. It also opened similar investigations into possible illegal tax deals with auto maker Fiat in Luxembourg and Starbucks in the Netherlands.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

…