A European court will rule tomorrow (24 September) if Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV has to pay about EUR30m in back taxes to Luxembourg, a media report said.
According to the Reuters report, Starbucks has to pay a similar amount to the Netherlands.
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The news agency said both cases were part of European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager's crackdown on unlawful tax breaks offered by EU countries to multinationals that have drawn criticism for using the bloc's state aid rules to accses tax strategies commonly used by many companies.
Reuters added the judgments from the Luxembourg-based General Court – the EU's second highest – could determine the scope of Vestager's drive in coming years and whether she would open more cases.
Many of the countries had already changed their tax systems since then, the report added.
Reuters said Vestager suffered a setback last February when the same court dismissed her decision against a Belgian tax scheme for BP, BASF and more than 30 other multinationals. Vestager did not give up and opened separate investigations of the companies last week.
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By GlobalDataAmong others, the European Commission is investigating Ikea and Nike Dutch deals.
Reuters noted Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Ireland are among countries where much of the economy in each has been built on attracting multinationals. Ireland is fighting against an order to claw back a record EUR13bn in back taxes from Apple.
Vestager in her 2015 decisions said Fiat Chrysler had benefited from an illegal tax deal with Luxembourg.
She reportedly said Fiat's Luxembourg unit paid "not even" EUR0.4m in corporate tax in 2014 while Starbucks' Dutch subsidiary paid less than EUR0.6m.
The commission said the companies set prices for goods and services sold between subsidiaries, known as transfer prices, that were below market rates and which artificially lowered their taxes.
Fiat has denied receiving state aid, according to Reuters, which noted companies can appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union on points of law.
