The European Parliament’s Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect (TAXE) has once again updated the lists of replies it received from the multinationals invited to attend TAXE’s November 16th meeting. The status of the invitation sent out to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has been changed from ‘no reply received’ to ‘declined’. Furthermore it seems that TAXE has included the reasons why Walmart and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have chosen to decline their invitations.
With respect to Walmart the overview available on TAXE’s website now shows:
“Declined - 5 November 2015
"Walmart has followed the work of your committee and appreciates the efforts you have undertaken and your inclusive approach that solicited the input of companies that might be impacted by any changes that are enacted. Although Walmart has a large U.S. and international presence, our operations in the EU are essentially limited to our Asda stores in the U.K., and we do not have a Brussels presence. In light of the fact that our EU footprint is far less extensive than the other companies you have invited to testify, we doubt we can offer as much perspective into Pan-European tax policy as the other companies, and would defer to their insight and analysis. As a result, we respectfully decline your invitation to testify on November 16, 2015.
As my colleague Angela Marshall Hoffman stated in her letter to you dated July 1, 2015, please be assured that Walmart is particularly mindful of its financial duty to its shareholders, customers and associates, and part of that duty includes a sound and compliant global tax strategy. Walmart operates within the framework of the law, only using lawful tools at its disposal. We have processes in place to comply with applicable international, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules, as well as the tax laws of each country where we operate. We also maintain transparency with the IRS through disclosures of our business transactions and corporate structure."”
With respect to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles the overview available on TAXE’s website now shows:
“Declined - 11 November 2015
"As you are aware, on October 21, 2015 the Competition Directorate of the European Commission announced its decision in the state aid case mentioned in our previous correspondence (ref. SA. 38375) involving the tax treatment of one of our subsidiaries in Luxembourg, in which it determined that Luxembourg has granted selective tax advantage to our subsidiary.
We fundamentally disagree with the decision and we intend to pursue our legal rights in response. We reiterate that we did not receive any state aid from Luxembourg and we are confident that the matter will be resolved in our favor in due course.
As a result of the Commission's findings and our intention to contest them, we are alone among the companies invited to participate in that we have an active pending legal case regarding the subject of the discussion. FCA believes it would be inappropriate for it to participate in a public discussion on the subject of tax rulings and equivalent measures some of which will be presented for judicial review.
Therefore, while we appreciate the Committee's efforts and its desire to hear the views of enterprises, we regret that we are not able to participate in this discussion until our legal case has been resolved. FCA welcomes the opportunity to participate in a policy debate on this subject at that time."”
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