The checks to be issued are worth a total of €723 million: Amazon has reached an agreement with the Italian tax authorities for three separate tax assessments involving its Luxembourg holding company, amounting to over €511 million, and two Italian companies, amounting to another €212 million.
E-commerce tax legislation has now sharpened its weapons, and the first results are visible for the treasury. December could prove fruitful for the tax authorities in the fight against tax evasion: another major company, Campari, is also close to reaching an agreement with the tax authorities , which calls for the payment of €400 million by Lagfin, the Luxembourg-based holding company of the Garavaglia family.
Rumors about the assessment, which was expected to be of a higher amount, had penalized the Campari share, which then recovered 0.5%.
For Amazon, the payments relate to three separate cases. The first, the most substantial for tax authorities, closed at €511 million, although the initial charges against the Luxembourg holding company by the Guardia di Finanza and the Milan prosecutor's office amounted to €3 billion. The finding is based on European legislation requiring operators of digital sales platforms to report transactions for VAT purposes.
The communications help various countries correctly tax millions of transactions: the amount determined by the assessment will still be paid in the form of penalties and interest for failing to provide the information that would have allowed them to contest VAT against third-party users of the platforms between 2019 and 2021.
According to the technical interpretation of the Revenue Agency's experts, it isn't even a question of tax evasion, but rather of a failure to provide correct information, a violation for which the company is held jointly and severally liable for VAT evaded by others.
The other two investigations—for a total of €212 million—were conducted by the Revenue Agency's anti-fraud units and closed a few days ago against two of the group's Italian companies—Amazon Logistica and Amazon Italia Transport—for what is technically defined as "digital heteromanagement of workers": essentially, Italian workers were used as if they were abroad, to circumvent tax regulations.
"This agreement reflects our commitment to constructively cooperating with the Italian authorities," Amazon said, announcing it will "defensively defend itself against any potential criminal proceedings, which we believe to be unfounded."
The criminal charges brought by the Prosecutor's Office, in fact, continue, also because the confrontation has revealed a conflicting interpretation of the contested activities.
Amazon, for its part, notes that it is "among the top 50 taxpayers in Italy and one of the country's largest foreign investors; over the last 15 years, we have invested over €25 billion in Italy, where we directly employ more than 19,000 people."
He emphasizes: "Unpredictable regulatory environments, disproportionate penalties, and protracted legal proceedings are impacting Italy's attractiveness as an investment destination." In 2024, the group's total tax contribution in Italy exceeded €1.7 billion. In the same year, over €4 billion was invested in the country, supporting the growth of over 20,000 Italian SMEs on its platform.
(Unioneonline)
