Booking pays Italian tax authorities 94 million euros
The Italian tax authorities and the online travel portal booking.com have settled a long-standing dispute over the payment of more than 150 million euros in VAT. The company based in the Netherlands subsequently agreed to pay 94 million euros, as the responsible public prosecutor's office in Genoa announced at the weekend. This should settle the matter. Booking is one of the biggest online brands in the hotel and private accommodation sector. The company was satisfied with the settlement.
The dispute concerned rentals between 2013 and 2019, with the Italian state accusing the company of having evaded a total of 153 million euros from hundreds of thousands of rentals. Booking does not rent out properties itself, but acts as an accommodation agent. However, many private landlords are not registered with a tax number in Italy. The tax authorities therefore consider the online portal to be responsible for the correct payment of tax.
The Italian state is also in dispute with the online accommodation provider AirBnB over several hundred million euros. Last Monday, a judge in Milan therefore ordered Airbnb to hand over around 780 million euros to the tax authorities. The group allegedly failed to pay a 21% tax on income from short-term rentals from 2017 to 2021. The so-called single tax on rental income was introduced in 2017. The housing platform took legal action against this, but failed before the European Court of Justice.
Italy's current right-wing government even wants to increase the tax to 26% in order to combat the housing shortage and high rents. Many landlords in Rome and other cities prefer to offer their apartments to tourists for more money.
Following the settlement, Booking.com has pledged to reinvest some of the paid taxes into the Italian real estate market, aiming to contribute to the development of sustainable living spaces. Moreover, the Italian government is considering implementing stricter tax regulations in the tourism sector to ensure justice and fairness for both the state and the private property owners, such as those offering their homes on booking platforms.
Source: www.dpa.com
