On 19 September 2016 the European Commission announced that it is commencing an investigation into the tax treatment of GDF Suez Group (now known as Engie) in tax rulings issued by Luxembourg. The tax rulings may in the view of the Commission have given the group a tax advantage compared to other companies. This would be a breach of the EU State Aid rules.
The announcement by the European Commission states that the Commission intends to assess the issue of whether the Luxembourg tax authority selectively derogated from the national tax law in the terms of the tax rulings issued to the group. In the view of the Commission the tax rulings appear to treat the same financial transaction in an inconsistent way as debt and as equity. The Commission has made a preliminary assessment and takes the view that the tax treatment gave tax benefits to GDF Suez that were not available to other companies that were subject to the same national tax rules.
Now the European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation. Interested parties and EU member states have the opportunity to send in their comments.
