Briefcase: Goodwill to open retail store on South Hill

Goodwill Industries of the Inland Northwest has chosen Spokane’s South Hill near Lincoln Heights Shopping Center to open its fifth retail store.

Goodwill has leased the former office space at 2927 E. 27th Ave. last used by the 50% Off Card Shop. It also is leasing an adjoining open parcel.

The goal is to open the store in September, said Spokane’s Goodwill CEO Clark Brekke. A donation trailer will be installed at the property in July.

It will use about 6,000 square feet in the building, with a staff of around 16.

EU investigating Apple, Starbucks, Fiat tax deals

AMSTERDAM – The European Union’s antitrust regulator has launched an investigation into tax deals that Apple, Starbucks and Fiat struck with some European countries, the start of a wider push to keep multinationals from taking advantage of loopholes.

EU antitrust commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Wednesday a preliminary probe by his office has found the tax deals the companies have with Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg could amount to illegal state aid.

“We have reason to believe at this stage that indeed in these specific cases the national authorities have (failed) to tax part of these multinationals’ profits,” Almunia said at a press conference in Brussels.

Apple has a deal with tax authorities in Ireland, Starbucks has one in the Netherlands and Fiat’s financing arm has one in Luxembourg as part of their strategy to minimize the taxes they pay.

He said that the investigations announced Wednesday look into the practice of ‘transfer pricing’ — where one part of a company charges another for goods or services in order to shift profits where it wants.

Apple denied it had received any special treatment from the government of Ireland, where its European operations are based.

“Apple pays every euro of every tax that we owe,” said spokesman Alan Hely.

Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson said his company complies “with all relevant tax rules, laws and guidelines.”

Fiat had no immediate comment.

Target shareholders elect 10 board nominees

NEW YORK – Target shareholders elected all 10 nominees to the company’s board despite recommendations from a prominent proxy advisory firm to get rid of the majority in the wake of massive data breach.

Institutional Shareholder Services last month targeted seven members who serve on the company’s audit or corporate responsibility committees because they failed to spot the security threat. Included on that list were Anne Mulcahy, former chair and CEO at Xerox, and James A. Johnson, who was once the CEO at Fannie Mae.

P.F. Chang’s looking into report of data breach

P.F. Chang’s may be the latest victim of a data breach.

The popular Asian restaurant chain said it was looking into a report that unknown hackers stole customers’ credit and debit card information and put it up for sale on the Internet.

Security blogger Brian Krebs wrote Tuesday that banks have reported data being pilfered from P.F. Chang’s locations in Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina.

The P.F. Chang’s breach occurred between the end of March and May 19, according to Krebs. Card data was being offered on a website favored by the Target hackers for $18 to $140 per card, Krebs reported.

“The items for sale are not cards, per se, but instead data copied from the magnetic stripe on the backs of credit cards,” Krebs wrote.

The company issued a statement saying it was looking into the matter.