Amazon has become the latest US internet giant to agree to a multimillion euro payment to settle its tax affairs in Italy after the local tax authority announced a deal to settle a long-running dispute. In a statement, Italy’s Agenzia delle Entrate confirmed that the company has agreed to pay EUR 100 million to settle outstanding tax claims dating from 2011 to 2015. The deal meant the case was now closed, paving the way for “the correct taxation in Italy for activities related to our country,” said the agency. Amazon subsequently added: “We have reached an agreement with the tax authorities on historical matters and remain focused on providing a great shopping experience for our customers in Italy, where we have invested more than EUR 800 million since 2010 and created over 3,000 jobs."
Amazon’s tax arrangements in Italy have been under investigation since March 2016 and came to a head earlier this year when financial police in Milan accused the company of failing to pay some EUR 130 million of taxes in the country. Rival tech giants such as Apple, Google and Facebook have also faced probes from Italy’s financial police, with Apple last year agreeing to pay EUR 318 million to settle an investigation and Google's parent company Alphabet paying a similar total of EUR 306 million earlier this year.
Italy’s senate budget commission last month approved plans to implement a new ‘web tax’ aimed at internet giants by applying a flat rate 6 percent levy on sales of “intangible digital products” such as online advertising. The lower chamber of the Italian parliament is expected to approve the amended budget by the end of December, with the finance ministry due to set out precisely which services are taxable by April next year.
