Brussels threatens to sue Spain before European justice for not applying the 15% tax on multinational companies

Brussels · WhyNew notification from Brussels to Spain. The European Commission announced on Thursday that it has sent notice to the country because it must change a European directive approved at the end of 2022 that aims to guarantee minimum taxes on a global scale for large multinational companies. Operating within the territory of the European Union. “The European Commission considers it a priority to oblige all multinational companies to pay an effective rate of at least 15%,” notes the statement from the community’s executive body.

All EU member states had to agree to this minimum tax and apply it to large companies, and notify the European Commission before 31 December 2023. The vast majority of the Community bloc countries, with the exception of Spain, met these deadlines. Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal, which have not yet sent any information about this law to Brussels.

For this reason, the EU executive decided to send a “reasoned opinion” to these member states. As of Thursday, the countries concerned have two months to take action and change the European directive, and respond to this formal notice from the European Commission. If they do not comply with this obligation, Brussels warns that it may decide to report them to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

It should be remembered that the European Union agreed to apply this minimum tax of 15% to large multinational companies after the agreement reached in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The aim of reforming these global tax rules is to reduce competition between member states to provide the lowest taxes on corporate profits, thus preventing companies from shifting those profits to regions with lower taxes or directly to tax havens.

At present, this minimum corporate tax rate applies to multinational companies or companies operating only in one country that record a financial income of more than €750 million per year.