EU probe into McDonald’s tax affairs reaches final stage

An EU probe into McDonald’s is entering its final stages after officials gathered information on whether the Big Mac maker unfairly benefited from a hefty tax break in Luxembourg, according to sources.

The commission may be moving ahead with a decision in the McDonald’s case before the EU’s summer break in August. That means the ruling could arrive before another pending decision on Amazon’s tax deals with Luxembourg, the sources said.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has been cracking down on tax loopholes, ordering Apple in August to pay as much as €13bn plus interest in back taxes over an illegal accord with the Government here. Shortly after, she warned that Amazon and McDonald’s were next “in the pipeline”. At stake are billions that multinational companies have squirrelled away in tax havens, out of the reach of authorities in the countries where they make most of their sales.