EU court to rule on legality of Belgian tax break, may affect Apple

BRUSSELS: Europe’s second-highest court will rule on Thursday whether a Belgian tax break which benefited some 35 large companies is illegal state aid, a judgment which could provide clues to other tax cases involving Apple, Starbucks and Fiat Chrysler.

As part of its crackdown on tax avoidance, the European Commission three years ago ordered Belgium to recover some 700 million euros ($790 million) from the group, saying the companies’ “excess profit” tax plan gave them an unfair advantage vis-a-vis smaller firms.