EU Gets Court Boost in Crackdown on Spanish M&A Tax Breaks
- Courts already weighed into spat over Spanish tax measures
- Cases could affect EU stand in tax disputes with Apple, Amazon
A sign stands outside the European Union Court of Justice buildings in Luxembourg.
Photographer: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The European Union got a boost in its crackdown on multimillion-euro tax breaks for Spanish companies that acquired stakes in foreign firms, after an adviser to the bloc’s top court rejected as inadmissible a challenge to the EU’s order for handouts to be paid back.
Advocate General Gerard Hogan of the EU Court of Justice said in a non-binding opinion on Tuesday that a request for guidance from the Central Tax Tribunal in Spain on the dispute should be ruled invalid. The Luxembourg-based court follows such advice in a majority of cases when it rules a few months later.