On 31 July 2013, DG Competition opened a formal state aid investigation into several reliefs available from the UK aggregates levy. This is the latest development in the long-running challenge to aspects of the levy in the British Aggregates Association litigation at the CJEU (C-487/06P). If the Commission find that there is state aid, it is likely that not only will the relevant reliefs have to be discontinued, but that recovery of those reliefs from 1 April 2002 might have to be ordered. Revenue & Customs Brief 27/13 announces the suspension of those reliefs. The wider implications for direct tax given BEPS are extremely worrying.
