Italy asks Meta, X and LinkedIn the payment of VAT: a billion euros for the years 2015-16 and 2021-22
According to an exclusive of Reuters, Italy would have asked for the payment of VAT to Meta, X and LinkedIn at the end of an investigation launched in recent months that saw the big tech accused of tax fraud
The Italian tax authorities has submitted the requests for payment of taxes, precisely of VAT, a Half, X And LinkedIn For a total of one billion euros. This is what emerges from an exclusive of the news agency Reutersaccording to which it would be the conclusion of an investigation launched in recent months that saw the giants of technology Accused of tax fraud and which, according to « sources with direct knowledge of the matter », could have serious repercussions throughout the European Union.
Backward taxes for a billion euros
The period under consideration dates back to the years 2015-2016 and 2021-2022. Italy requested 887.6 million euros from the company of Facebook12.5 million euros to the social network of Elon Musk and another 140 million euros to the work platform. The total amounts precisely to 1.04 billion euros. It seems, however, that in this first phase the notification just sent to the big tech interests only the contributions dating back to 2015 and 2016, since requests is very close to the expiry. In a declaration issued a Reutersa spokesman for the goal has declared that he had « fully collaborated with the authorities with respect to our obligations deriving from European and national legislation and we will continue to do so. Let’s take our tax obligations seriously and We pay all the taxes required in each of the countries In which we operate, but we are strongly disagreed with the idea that access by users to online platforms must be subject to the payment of VAT ».
The thesis of Italy
The thesis of the Italian authorities, in fact, maintains that user recordings to X platforms, LinkedIn and Meta should be considered taxable transactions, since an exchange in activation of an account between the services provided and the data of the user himself takes place. The risk that this can become a European case, Reuters explains again, depends on the fact that VAT is a tax that unites all 27 countries of the European Union And the outcome of this investigation could lead to rethinking the taxation model to all companies that allow free access to their services via the website with the authorization to cookies and the profiling of users. A situation that becomes even more delicate at a time when a commercial war between the EU and the United States of Donald Trump is expected.
The tax on digital services
Please note that from 2020 in Italy the tax on digital services (ISD) is in force, a tax equal to 3% the revenues deriving from personalized online advertising, intermediation services between users and data transmission for groups with more than 750 million turnover And that applies on three services: targeted online advertising; intermediation services between users and transmission of data collected by users. According to a recent Italian public accounts study, the revenue in our country is 400 million euros, growing but still less than the provision of 708 million per year. It must be said, however, for their European activities many innovation giants are established In Ireland, where 40% of the European revenue is collected: Among these are Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. 19%, however, come from companies residing in Italy and it is not a double taxation, since ISD is deductible from income for IRES purposes.
