BRUSSELS—The European Union has ordered Belgium to recover some $760 million in illegal tax breaks from 35 multinationals, its latest ruling against the sweet deals many member states offered to some of the world’s biggest companies.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Monday the tax advantage given only to a select few companies “distorts competition” by putting smaller competitors “on an unequal footing.”
“National tax authorities cannot give any company, however large, however powerful an unfair competitive advantage compared to others,” Vestager said. “This scheme puts smaller competitors at an unfair disadvantage.”
Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt said he could still appeal the decision before the EU’s high court depending on negotiations on how to claw back the taxes. “The consequences for the companies involved could be major, and the recovery extremely complex,” he said.
Since the EU ruled on a government taxation system instead of deals with specific companies, it did not name any multinational involved beyond noting that they were mainly European.
