Brussels ratcheted up the global crackdown on tax avoidance by multinational companies on Wednesday by launching an investigation into whether three EU states were offering improper tax breaks to companies including Apple and Starbucks.
The European Commission said that an in-depth probe would consider the tax affairs of three companies: Apple in Ireland, Starbucks in the Netherlands and Fiat Finance and Trade, the financial arm of the Fiat group, in Luxembourg.
Joaquín Almunia, the EU’s competition commissioner, stressed that the investigation was just a first step and the net could be cast more widely in the pursuit of “aggressive” tax avoidance.