General Court annuls the decision of the EU Commission on the Belgian excess profit regime

Since June 2013, the EU Commission has been investigating the tax ruling practices of several EU Member States with a view to detect potential State aid concerns. Apart from the investigation in the McDonalds case, the EU Commission consistently concluded that illegal State aid was present. In all these cases, the EU Member States (and many of the taxpayers) concerned appealed against the decisions of the EU Commission.

On 14 February 2019, the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) decided that the Belgian “excess profit regime” (case T-131/16) is not a State aid scheme. This judgment is the first judgment in the series of pending tax aid appeals against the EU Commission’s recovery decisions. According to the General Court, the EU Commission had failed to demonstrate the existence of an aid scheme. Therefore, the decision of the EU Commission was annulled in its entirety.