ROME: Italy has imposed a provisional fine of €121 million (US$131 million) on the US retail giant Amazon on suspicion of tax evasion, reported German news agency (dpa).
The responsible police authority in Milan justified this with the results of investigations by the public prosecutor’s office, which indicated that Amazon diverts large sums from taxes by assigning shipping orders through an intricate system to subcontractors.
This is said to be associated with the systematic exploitation of workers, the authority said.
According to the authorities, the sum was seized through a so-called emergency ordinance.
In their statement, there is talk of a “complex tax fraud” resulting from the end beneficiary using an “illegal invoicing mechanism for legally non-existent transactions against the agreement of fictitious procurement contracts for the provision of labour”.
The amount of the fine is unlikely to make much difference to the US corporation. In the last quarter of the previous year alone, the retail giant made a profit of more than €10 billion. – BERNAMA-dpa
