The sun is setting on the days when multinationals could establish intricate tax systems to drastically reduce their tax bills. Since the 1990s, the OECD and the EU have taken resolute steps to compel their members to eradicate corporate tax elusion and harmful tax competition. These solutions are forward-looking, and aim at averting future issues. Importantly, the European Commission has picked a fight against past tax schemes by targeting tax rulings via State aid, a part of EU competition law. In the most publicized case, Apple was asked to pay $15 billion to Ireland in outstanding taxes. The decision was annulled by the General Court in July 2020, and an appeal before the Court of Justice is currently pending. In this seminar, the value of State aid law as a tool to fight unfair corporate taxation will be discussed through an assessment of the decisional practice of the Commission and the judgments of the General Court. State aid, we will see, might be a useful weapon to combat corporate tax malpractices, but as a complement, not a substitute, of the preferred tax harmonization strategy.

About the speaker: Prof. Sandra Marco Colino

Register here by 12 noon, 17 November 2020 to attend the event.