Q&A: Commission extends state aid rulings investigations

What is the Commission’s latest target?

The European Commission has announced that it has opened an in-depth investigation into the Belgian ‘excess profits’ rulings system.

In essence these rulings allow multinational entities in Belgium to reduce their corporate tax liability by reference to ‘excess profits’ that result from the advantage of being part of a multinational group. However no similar advantage is available to domestic Belgian groups.

At this stage the Commission has doubts as to whether this complies with EU state aid rules and has opened an investigation into the system ...