Today, the Commission has published the non-confidential version of its decision, adopted on 7 March 2019, to open an in-depth investigation into Luxembourg’s tax treatment of Huhtamäki. The Commission has concerns that three tax rulings granted by Luxembourg to Finnish food and drink packaging company Huhtamäki may have allowed the company to pay less tax and, hence, given it an unfair advantage over its competitors, in breach of EU State aid rules. The opening of an in-depth investigation gives Luxembourg and interested third parties an opportunity to submit comments. It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation. One of the three tax rulings under investigation was disclosed as part of the over 500 files disclosed as part of the “Luxleaks” investigation led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in 2014. Furthermore, about 200 files disclosed as part of “Luxleaks” concerned financing companies and intercompany financing. In January 2017, following discussions with the Commission, Luxembourg introduced changes to their national tax rules to make the tax treatment of financing companies more stringent. The new rules, which concern a significant number of “Luxleaks” rulings aim to ensure that financing companies are taxed sufficiently and imply that the rulings regarding certain financing companies issued before 2017, including those from the Luxleaks files, no longer bind the tax authorities in Luxembourg. The decision is available under the case number SA.50400 on the Commission’s competition website.
