The Guardia di Finanza and the Milan prosecutor's office accuse Google to have evaded taxes in Italy for 300 million euros in the period 2008-2013 (out of an alleged taxable amount of around 800 million) and they are asking the Mountain View giant to pay the Italian tax authorities this sum to remedy their position. The newspaper La Repubblica writes it today, specifying that the escape would have been carried out in terms of taxable amount subtracted from taxation (about a third) and of deemed inoperable (the other two thirds), resulting in the tax office of the company not being in Italy. In essence, the company would recorded the profits in the financial statements of other countries with more favorable tax rules, such as Ireland, where taxation is just over 12%, against 27,50% for the Italian IRES.
“We comply with tax laws in all countries where we operate,” Google replied.
The Director of the Revenue Agency, Rossella Orlandi, confirmed however this morning that the Fiamme Gialle are currently serving a report to the Californian giant.
Thus comes the first official act after months-long negotiations between the parties and leaked rumors – but then denied – on possible agreements for a plea deal between 150 and 200 million euros.
The Republic writes that at this point Google could agree to pay a sum between 220 and 270 million euros. However, if the criminal and administrative litigation were to continue, in the end the group could have to pay a much heavier bill, including penalties and interest.
That would be a far more severe punishment than the one inflicted on Google by the British tax authorities, which announced on Monday 25 January that it had reached an agreement with Mountain View for the payment of 130 million pounds against a theoretical taxable amount evaded of almost 4 billion. It is no coincidence that yesterday the London newspaper "The Times" headlined: "Italy shows how to be resolute with Google".
Furthermore, shortly after Christmas, the Italian tax authorities had received a bank transfer of 318 million euros from another California giant, Apple, which had accepted the Revenue Agency's calculations without objection. In that case, the dispute report spoke of a billion of unpaid taxable income.
