Apple EU Tax Row: Multinational Corporations Targeted By Brussels

The EU has alleged that companies including McDonald's, Starbucks (Swiss: SBUX.SW - news) , Amazon and Fiat Chrysler struck deals with member countries to pay unusually low tax in exchange for basing their operations in Europe.

:: McDonald's

The company's finances have been under investigation since 2015 following claims it struck a deal with Luxembourg authorities to significantly reduce its tax bill on European sales.

In May, the French headquarters of the fast-food chain were raided by tax officials who seized financial documents as part of the ongoing investigation.

:: Apple Ordered To Pay £11bn In Irish Taxes

Following the raid, a spokesperson for McDonald's said: "From 2010-2014, the McDonald's companies paid more than €2bn (£1.7m) just in corporate taxes in the European Union, with an average tax rate of almost 27%."

In January the company announced a 5% fall in full-year profits to £3.13bn while revenues were 7% lower at£17.7bn.

:: Amazon

The online retail giant is subject to a live European Commission (EC) investigation following criticism of its complex tax structures which sees it report most of its European profits through a tax-exempt partnership.

The arrangement sees its sales logged in Luxembourg despite its goods being sourced, stored and sold in the UK.

In 2013 it was revealed the company paid £10m in UK corporation tax, despite sales in Britain reaching £4.3bn.

:: Starbucks

The US coffee-chain was given a roasting by MPs (BSE: MPSLTD.BO - news) in 2012 after it alleged it was not making a profit in the UK despite cumulative sales of £2bn over 15 years. The company also claimed that in the four years to the end of 2012 it made a loss of £150m.

Since arriving in the UK, Starbucks paid just £8.6m in corporation tax up to 2012, which the company claimed was caused by so-called transfer pricing, which involves charges being made by companies in the same corporate group based in different jurisdictions, with the effect of depressing profits in the higher-tax jurisdiction.

In 2015 the EC ruled Starbucks had to repay £22.8m of what were described as "illegal" tax breaks.


:: Fiat Chrysler

In 2015 the EC ruled the Italian car maker's financing company paid taxes on profits which had been under-estimated.

Fiat (Hanover: FIA1.HA - news) insisted its dealings merely amounted to a clarification of pricing rules and did not constitute state aid, but it was ordered to repay £25.5m.