U.S. Inflation Surges in March as Iran War and Tariffs Drive Prices Higher 
Chinese Cars in Europe: Consumer Trust Is Shifting Fast 
Chalco Stock Surges as Q1 2025 Profit Forecast Jumps Up to 58% 
U.S. Natural Gas Market Faces Short-Term Pressure but Long-Term Demand Surge 
Anthropic's Mythos AI Model Sparks Emergency Cybersecurity Meeting With Top U.S. Bank CEOs 
Japan Consumer Confidence Drops Sharply Amid Rising Fuel Costs and Middle East Tensions 
OpenAI Addresses Security Vulnerability in macOS App Certification Process 
China's Inflation Data Misses Forecasts as Consumer Prices Slow in March 
Kia Cuts EV Sales Target for 2030 Amid Slowing Demand and U.S. Policy Shifts 
U.S. Markets Post Strong Weekly Gains Despite Middle East Tensions and Rising Energy Prices 
China Vanke Seeks Bond Extension Amid Mounting Debt Crisis 
Asian Stocks Rally on Ceasefire Hopes and Bargain Buying 
Oil Prices Rebound as Hormuz Disruptions and Middle East Tensions Rattle Markets 
Bill Ackman Eyes New Fund to Bet Against Market Complacency 
Gold Prices Rise on Weaker Dollar and Ceasefire Hopes 
Foreign Investors Pour $18.65 Billion into Japanese Stocks Amid Market Stabilization 
Anthropic Fights Pentagon Blacklisting in Dual Federal Court Battles 
Amazon was declared the winner in a tax legal battle where the EU ordered it to pay Luxembourg the amount of €250 million or around $303 million in back taxes. The win for the American retail giant is said to be a big blow to European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager's campaign against preferential deals.
Why Amazon was favored in the court
As per Reuters, the hitch, which is Amazon’s win in the tax case, triggered renewed calls from EU lawmakers for a global corporate tax deal. Despite losing, analysts said that Vestager is not likely to give up on her crusade regarding the amount of tax that big companies should pay.
In any case, based on the EU’s court ruling, Amazon won in the legal dispute after the group of legislators was not able to show that Luxembourg gave Jeff Bezos’ company a special treatment that violates state aid rules.
"The Commission did not prove to the requisite legal standard that there was an undue reduction of the tax burden of a European subsidiary of the Amazon group," the EU judges stated in the ruling.
This legal dispute stemmed from the order that Amazon received in 2017. The European Commission ordered the American e-commerce and tech firm to pay €250 million to Luxembourg for back taxes.
Second loss for EU tax crusaders
It was mentioned that this is the second defeat for Vestager as it also lost in the court tussle against Apple last year. At that time, the American tech company contested an EU order for it to pay €13 billion or $15 billion in Irish back taxes.
Similar to Amazon’s case, the EU’s court ruled that the commission failed to prove that the Irish government had granted a tax advantage to Apple. The European Commission has since filed an appeal against the ruling in the iPhone maker tax dispute.
Apple and Amazon were said to be targeted by Vestager in the EU's campaign to put an end to tax agreement practices being used by EU states to attract major companies. The group said that such types of deals are not fair.
Meanwhile, Amazon said in a statement that it welcomed the judges’ decision. The company added that it has always been Amazon’s stance to follow all applicable laws and reiterated that it has not received any preferential or special treatment in its dealings.
