BRUSSELS - The European Union ordered the
world's largest online retailer Amazon on Wednesday to
pay back about 250 million euros ($294 million) in taxes to
Luxembourg, saying it had been given an unfair tax advantage
from 2003.
"Luxembourg gave illegal tax benefits to Amazon. As a
result, almost three quarters of Amazon's profits were not
taxed," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager
said in a statement.
The 250 million euros is less than an estimate of 400
million which sources told Reuters last year that Vestager had
calculated at that time. However, the Commission added that the
exact amount of back-payment would still need to be calculated
by Luxembourg authorities.
Amazon is the latest big U.S. multinational company to be
reined in by the EU competition regulator, which also told
technology group Apple pay back arrears of up to 13
billion euros ($15.3 billion) to Ireland.
($1 = 0.8506 euros).