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Italian tax authorities have accused Amazon of avoiding 1.2 billion euros in VAT payments in the latest efforts by European authorities to scrutinise the business issues of major US technology groups on the continent.
The claims are related to the sale of products from China and other non-EU countries purchased through the platform between 2019 and 2021, according to three people familiar with the investigation.
The US-based tech giant has overhauled the process of collecting VAT on imports sold online, and has received 3 billion euros (original tax, interest). , penalty) was hit by a total claim. For European consumers.
Amazon, disagreeing with the claim, declined to comment.
The massive tax claims against Amazon are due to Donald Trump opposes the treatment of US companies by the EU and its member states. The new US president has singled out the widely used VAT tax system of the Bullock for certain outrage.
The Amazon dispute in Italy saw the sale of imported goods containing low value items of less than 150 euros each to domestic consumers by third party sellers in the Amazon market during the transition period when the EU was in. This is due to. Changing the process of taxing online sales.
The reforms approved in December 2017 aimed at simplifying the ease of business in Europe, with the estimated euros of 5 billion each year due to the avoidance of VAT imports of low-value goods.
Under the old system, the EU requested that all individual sellers register to pay the VAT of each country where they sold the goods. Under the improved rules that came into full effect in 2021, the tech company was responsible for collecting and paying for VAT for all items sold on the platform.
The new EU regulations also ended the long-standing tax exemption for online sales of imported goods under 150 euros.
However, before the new EU-wide system was fully effective in 2019, Italy has set a law in which high-tech companies are now liable for tax evasion by third-party sellers using its platform. It has been passed. .
Italian financial police Guardia di Finanza has analyzed 700 million financial transactions made through Amazon between the passage of the new Italian law in 2019 and the launch of a new EU system in 2021, with an estimated worth of 12 billion euros worth I discovered there was a VAT payment. According to those with knowledge of the discovery, it was avoided.
Authorities said Chinese sellers account for around 70-80% of all items sold online in Italy.
At a meeting in Rome a few months ago, many American companies operating in Italy complained to then-US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo about the unpredictability of Italian tax authorities and were locked in cash. It appealed for interpretation of tax rules targeting larger foreign companies for more money. .
