Amazon's Italian offices raided over tax evasion suspicions - Reuters

Italian tax police on Thursday searched Amazon's headquarters in Milan as part of a new tax evasion investigation into the American tech giant, citing two sources directly familiar with the situation, Reuters reports, writes UNN.

Details

Sources said that the Guardia di Finanza tax police also searched the homes of seven Amazon managers and the offices of auditing firm KPMG.

This investigation is a new stage in the inquiry into whether Amazon had a hidden permanent establishment in Italy from 2019 to 2024 and, therefore, whether it should have paid more taxes in the country.

Amazon was not immediately available for comment. KPMG declined to comment.

The Milan prosecutor's office launched an investigation into Amazon EU Sarl, based in Luxembourg, and its director Barbara Scarafia on suspicion of undeclared income, as stated in a 13-page search warrant seen by Reuters.

According to the warrant, Amazon had a permanent establishment in Italy even before August 2024, when the group entered into a "cooperative tax compliance" agreement with the Italian tax authorities and began paying taxes in Italy.

Based on the results of the investigation and witness testimonies, the warrant states that in 2024, Amazon EU Sarl dismissed and re-hired 159 employees of another Amazon company, which, according to the prosecutor's office, had been a permanent establishment in Italy until that point.

According to sources, the tax police seized, among other things, computers and other IT devices belonging to the executives, including hard drives storing employee emails that are deleted from Amazon's systems every three months.

The search at KPMG, which is not under investigation, was initiated by the fact that this firm was among those who provided an opinion on the actions underlying the investigation.

The latest move is just one of a series of cases involving Amazon in Italy.

In December, the company agreed with the Italian tax authorities to pay 510 million euros ($605.88 million) to settle one of the tax disputes.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the Milan prosecutor's office, which suspects tax evasion of about 1.2 billion euros for 2019-2021, expects to complete the investigation early this year.

The prosecutor's office is also conducting two other investigations into the company: one concerns alleged tax evasion for 2021-2024, and the other concerns alleged customs and tax fraud related to Chinese imports.

Amazon in Italy has been accused of tax fraud25.07.24, 08:39 • 17849 views