In the wake of yesterday’s unexplained announcement by EU Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, that the Commission’s decision on its probe into Ireland’s tax dealings with Apple will now not be published in June, comes news that she may take on a tax investigation of another major multinational, McDonalds.

The Commissioner says she is looking into trade union allegations which say that the fast food restaurant chain avoided paying more than €1bn in corporate taxes between 2009 and 2013.

The coalition of European and American unions claims McDonald’s cut its tax bill by moving its British HQ to Switzerland and then channelled money into a Luxembourg-based subsidiary that also had a Swiss branch.

"We are looking into the information gained by trade unions when it comes to McDonald’s in order to assess if there is a case, or if we should open cases there," Ms Vestager said.

It is alleged that the Luxembourg subsidiary employs 13 people, but reported revenues of €834m in 2013 - that's €64m per worker.

McDonald’s declined to comment on the tax probe.

As well as examining Apple's taxes in Ireland, the Commission is currently investigating Amazon's tax affairs in Luxembourg, and Starbucks' tax payments in the Netherlands.