Internet giants to testify over tax breaks

Brussels - US online retailer Amazon, search engine giant Google and social network Facebook will testify at the European Parliament this week on the issue of tax breaks for big businesses, officials said.

Amazon is currently under investigation by Brussels for its sweetheart tax deals with Luxembourg. The "LuxLeaks" scandal that emerged a year ago has put the spotlight on the subject.

Representatives from 11 out of 13 companies invited by the parliament will attend on Monday, parliament officials said.

The others are Coca-Cola, McDonald's Europe, Ikea, Philip Morris, Disney, AB InBev, HSBC and Barclays.

Retail giant Walmart refused while Fiat did not reply, officials said.

The EU launched a series of probes in 2014 following the LuxLeaks affair, which revealed that top global companies had negotiated lower tax rates, in some cases as low as 1%, in secret pacts with Luxembourg.

In October, Brussels ordered Starbucks and Fiat to each repay up to €30m ($34m) in back taxes for deals they had with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, respectively.

Decisions on Apple and Amazon are pending.