Italy imposes more than 120 Million Euros in fines against Amazon
Italy has imposed a preliminary fine of 121 million Euro on US trading giant Amazon, suspecting tax evasion.
The responsible police authority in Milan justified this with the results of the public prosecutor's investigations, which found that Amazon channeled high amounts of tax through a sophisticated system by assigning dispatch orders to subcompanies. This was accompanied by the systematic exploitation of labor.
The amount was seized according to official statements through a so-called emergency decree. In the decree's communication, they speak of a "complex tax fraud" that arises because the ultimate beneficiary uses an "illegal invoicing mechanism for legally non-existent procurement contracts for the provision of labor".
The magnitude of the fine should not matter much to the US corporation: The trading giant made more than ten billion Euros in profit alone in the last quarter of the previous year.
- The suspicion of tax evasion by Amazon in Italy has raised questions about similar practices in Europe, as the euro currency symbol continues to be used in potential tax evasion cases involving multinational corporations.
- Despite the strict strafe imposed by Italy, there are concerns that the fine of 121 million Euros may not deter Amazon from continuing tax evasion strategies, given their substantial annual profit of over ten billion dollars.
- The public outcry following the discovery of Amazon's tax evasion scheme and subsequent fine has led to calls for stronger scrutiny and transparency in the use of complicated tax systems, which are often exploited by large corporations to avoid paying their fair share.
