Representatives from the governments of Ireland, the Netherland and Luxembourg will be asked by the European Commission to justify their current tax arrangements for multinational companies.
Low rates of corporation tax coupled with ‘sweetheart deals’ have been credited with attracting large employers at the expense of other member states.
Last May, Ireland was accused by US lawmakers of being a tax haven allowing multinationals to avoid paying the 35% corporation tax on repatriated income.
A report issued by a bipartisan Senate committee accused Ireland of being a tax haven, allowing Apple to keep almost two-thirds of its income offshore, paying only 2% in corporation tax.
Google, similarly, has been accused of not paying its fair share, a claim rejected by executive chairman Eric Schmidt, who described its strategy – responsible for evading $2 billion – as "good capitalism".
The data on companies’ arrangements will be supplied by the Revenue Commissioners but won’t be made public for what an EU statement called "commercial reasons".
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