The European Commission has launched an investigation into whether the tax structures set up by Apple, Starbucks and Fiat in Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute illegal state aid. Last year a US Senate committee released a report which said that Ireland had functioned as a tax haven for Apple which allowed it to pay just 1.9% tax on overseas profits of $39bn. Under EU rules, member states are not allowed to grant aid to specific companies or sectors if it would damage competition in the market. Much of the investigation will therefore focus on whether officials from those countries cut special deals with the companies over their tax affairs. A previous European Court of Justice decision on Gibraltar concluded that tax advantages introduced by could be counted as state aid. Europe is often accused of “meddling” in the affairs of member states. If that stops a few tax havens from undermining the European governments though damaging tax practices, “meddling” may not always be a bad thing. 2014-06-16 00:00:00