European court overturns ruling on Starbucks tax deal with Netherlands

A European Union court has overturned a ruling by the European Commission that a tax deal between the Dutch government and Starbucks amounted to illegal state support for the coffee giant.

In 2015, the Commission ruled that the Netherlands gave tax advantages to Starbucks.

That led to Dutch authorities recovering 25.7 million euros from the coffee giant.

Both the Netherlands and Starbucks appealed against the decision.

In a ruling on Tuesday, the General Court of the European Union said the EU’s executive commission “was unable to demonstrate the existence of an advantage in favour of Starbucks”.

The Commission can appeal against Tuesday’s judgment.