EU makes Fiat pay 20 million euro taxes to Luxembourg

(AGI) Rome, Oct 21 - The European Commission has ordered FiatChrysler's subsidiary in Luxembourg to pay back at least 20million euros in taxes. It ruled that selective tax advantagesfor Fiat Chrysler Finance Europe were illegal under state aidrules. "The commission's investigation showed that a tax rulingissued by the Luxembourg authorities in 2012 gave a selectiveadvantage to Fiat Finance and Trade, which has unduly reducedits tax burden since 2012 by 20 to 30 million euros," the ECsaid. Fiat Chrysler Automotive said: "Fiat Chrysler FinanceEurope [FCF] never sought any derogation from the general lawthrough exemptions and reliefs not generally available underthe Luxembourg tax system, and the APA did not grant to FCF anyadvantage unavailable to comparable Luxembourg tax payers." Luxembourg's finance ministry said it believed the commissionhad not shown that Fiat received selective advantages under thenational legal framework, and the company had not receivedillegal state aid. Margrethe Vestager, the EU competitioncommissioner, said: "Tax rulings that artificially reduce acompany's tax burden are not in line with EU state aid rules.They are illegal. I hope that, with today's decisions, thismessage will be heard by member state governments and companiesalike.". .