Nike said in its own statement that the investigation was “without merit.”

“Nike is subject to and rigorously ensures that it complies with all the same tax laws as other companies operating in the Netherlands,” the company, which is based in Beaverton, Ore., said in the statement.

The Netherlands has long been a magnet for multinational corporations, attracting more foreign investment than Germany or France because of its business-friendly tax laws and its accommodating officials.

Big companies have typically worked out arrangements with the Dutch Finance Ministry under which they minimized their tax bills by funneling profits to offshore tax havens with little or no corporate taxes. About €22 billion a year flows through the Netherlands to low-tax countries, according to the ministry, which did not provide an estimate of how much Nike might have saved.

Airbus, Fiat Chrysler, Google, IBM and the Renault-Nissan alliance are among the corporations that have headquarters in the Netherlands. Nike’s European headquarters are in Hilversum, just south of Amsterdam.

The Netherlands has come under pressure from the European Commission and Dutch citizens disgruntled about special favors for big companies. Officials in Amsterdam have responded by vowing to tighten rules that allow companies to camouflage profits as “royalties” and protect them from taxes.