"There is no special push against US companies. The European Commission tries to take care that there is a level playing field for all companies in the EU, no matter where the owners of the companies reside," she said.
Helminen recalled that "EU member states are not allowed to give state aid to certain companies in the form of more beneficial tax treatment compared to other companies."
"Taxation must be the same for every company in a similar situation. The European Commission's decisions confirm its commitment to make sure that profits are duly taxed," she added.
.@EU_Commission says @amazon has to pay back €250m for avoiding paying taxes on profits made from EU sales: https://t.co/17UbX6wUBR pic.twitter.com/6bAMsASVgG
— RT UK (@RTUKnews) 4 октября 2017 г.
According to Helminen, although Amazon did not do "something illegal", the problem is that nobody realized that the agreement between Amazon and the tax administration was so beneficial to the company that it would be regarded as state aid from Luxembourg and forbidden under EU law.
"Paying nothing or only very little in taxes is not against EU law, but the same treatment has to be available to all companies in a similar situation in order to not constitute forbidden state aid," she said.
The commission said in a statement that its investigation showed that "the level of the royalty payments, endorsed by the tax ruling, was inflated and did not reflect economic reality."
Right now, Amazon is facing a bill for 250 million euros (294 million dollars) in back taxes.
