The European Commission has released a public version of a 11 June 2014 letter sent to the Dutch government stating its preliminary view that an advanced pricing agreement (APA) entered into by the Netherlands with Dutch resident Starbucks Manufacturing EMEA BV (SMBV) may have resulted in illegal state aid. The SMBV APA is based on an agreement from 12 April 2001 between the Dutch tax authorities and the Starbucks Group, and on a transfer pricing report prepared in 2007. According to the letter, the Commission is examining whether the SMBV APA complies with the arm's length principle or whether a...