Paraguay Central Bank Holds Interest Rate at 5.5% Amid Slowing Growth 
Elon Musk Announces Terafab: SpaceX and Tesla to Build Dual AI Chip Factories in Austin, Texas 
Iran Threatens Gulf Infrastructure as U.S.-Israel War Enters Critical 48-Hour Window 
Volkswagen CEO Urges Germany to Adopt China's Industrial Discipline Amid Major Restructuring 
South Korean Stocks Tumble as Hawkish BOK Governor Appointment Rattles Markets 
J.P. Morgan Now Expects Two ECB Rate Hikes Amid Inflation Pressures 
Iran-Israel War Escalates: Long-Range Missiles, Nuclear Site Strikes, and Global Energy Crisis 
Asian Currencies Slide as U.S.-Iran Tensions and Rising Oil Prices Rattle Markets 
U.S.-Iran War Escalates: Marines Deploy, Strait of Hormuz Closure Drives Global Oil Crisis 
US-Iran War: Trump Eyes Military Exit as Markets React to Potential De-escalation 
Goldman Sachs Raises ECB Rate Hike Forecast Amid Persistent Energy-Driven Inflation 
U.S. Stock Futures Slide as Iran Conflict and Inflation Fears Rattle Wall Street 
Virgin Australia Adjusts Fares Amid Rising Aviation Costs and Middle East Tensions 
OpenAI's Desktop Superapp: Unifying ChatGPT, Codex, and Browser Tools for Enterprise AI 
Federal Reserve Crisis: DOJ Standoff Threatens Powell's Succession and Rate Stability 
EA's $15B Debt Offering Draws $25B in Investor Demand Amid Credit Market Turmoil 
NVIDIA's Feynman AI Chip May Face Redesign Amid TSMC Capacity Crunch 
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.
