Amazon reaches main settlement in Italian tax and labour probe.
US on-line retail big Amazon on Wednesday reached a settlement with Italian tax authorities, below which it agreed to pay €723 million.
The investigation, led by Milan prosescutors, centered on Amazon’s logistics companies unit and allegations that the corporate circumvented Italian labour and tax legal guidelines.
This included counting on co-operatives or restricted legal responsibility firms to produce employees, which allegedly led to the avoidance of Value-Added Tax (VAT) and a discount in social safety funds.
Prosecutors accuse Amazon of failing to gather and remit VAT for sure non-EU third-party sellers on its platform, in contravention of Italian legal guidelines.
The probe revealed unpaid taxes totalling €1.2 billion between 2019 and 2021, in response to Italian information reviews.
Under the settlement agreed on Wednesday, Amazon pays €511 million to Italian tax authorities within the coming months, along with €212 million the corporate had already paid in latest days to settle a separate tax dispute.
Amazon has denied wrongdoing, stating that the settlement mirrored its “dedication to working constructively with Italian authorities”, including: “We will defend ourselves vigorously towards any prison proceedings, which we consider to be unfounded.”
The firm famous that over the previous 15 years it has invested greater than greater than €25 billion in Italy, the place it employs greater than 19,000 individuals instantly.
Amazon additionally warned that Italy’s “attractiveness as an funding vacation spot” may very well be undermined by “unpredictable regulatory environments, disproportionate penalties and protracted authorized proceedings.”
