McDonald's Faces EU Probe Over Luxembourg Sweetheart Tax Deals
- Burger maker's tax arrangements with Luxembourg probed by EU
- Company rejects EU's initial findings; says it pays fair share
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McDonald’s Corp. may have unfairly exploited a pact with Luxembourg to avoid tax on hundreds of millions of euros in profits for more than half a decade, European Union regulators said as they added the Big Mac maker to a growing list of U.S. firms facing a fiscal clampdown.
Months after trade unions accused the company of avoiding more than 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) in taxes across Europe, the EU said it suspects Luxembourg broke state-aid rules since 2009 by allowing a McDonald’s unit to escape taxes in the nation and across the Atlantic by misusing a double-taxation accord. McDonald’s rejected the EU’s accusations, saying it “pays a significant amount of corporate income tax” in Europe.