The Milan prosecutor’s office is calling for a trial for Amazon and 4 of its managers, accused of 1.2 billion in tax evasion from 2019 to 2021, and also had “institutional” meetings to obtain regulations favorable to Amazon

For failure to modify the deemed algorithm "indifferent" to the tax and customs obligations of the European Union which resulted in an alleged VAT evasion of approximately one billion and 200 million euros in three years, from 2019 to 2021, the Milan Prosecutor’s Office has requested the trial of Amazon Eu sarl and three of its managers and a fourth US manager.

The investigation, conducted by the Gdf, it is one of three that concerns the giant founded by Jeff Bezos. In December, following an agreement with the Revenue Agency, the company committed to paying 527 million euros to the Italian tax authorities, including interest.

"They met with institutional interlocutors to obtain ad hoc rules"

"Both before and after the launch of the Growth Decree, Amazon had active discussions with the Revenue Agency and also with other institutional interlocutors not so much aimed at clarifying (its own) doubts regarding the interpretation and application of the law, but rather to try to get a picture" legislative "which – given that one’s business and logistics are operated through ‘machine learning’ systems and predictive logistics algorithms systematically indifferent to the fulfillment of tax and customs obligations – could be somehow manageable" bypassing the tax. This can be read in the request for indictment for Amazon Eu sarl, three of its managers and a US executive signed by prosecutor Elio Ramondini at the end of an investigation, conducted by the Gdf of Monza, which was opened in 2021 after some routine checks.

The hypothesis is an evasion of approximately one billion and 200 million euros, between 2019 and 2021, through the system of "distance sales" adopted by the group founded by Jeff Bezos. The chapter regarding meetings, too "institutional" to obtain regulations to favor the multinational e-commerce, emerges from some documents. such as communications and emails, acquired during the investigation.