Amazon’s fight against $277 million EU tax order kicks off in court on Thursday

Amazon will on Thursday seek to overturn an EU order to repay about 250 million euros ($277 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg at Europe’s second-highest court, one of a series of high-profile cases marking the bloc’s crackdown on unfair tax deals.

The European Commission said in its 2017 ruling that the tax deal, which covered the period from May 2006 to June 2014, meant almost three-quarters of Amazon’s business went untaxed.

The EU competition watchdog said the Grand Duchy allowed the U.S. online retailer to shift a significant portion of its profits from a subsidiary to a holding company without paying tax, giving the company an unfair advantage.