MILAN, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Italian tax police carried out searches on Thursday at Amazon's headquarters in Milan in a new tax evasion investigation into the U.S. tech giant, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The Guardia di Finanza tax police also searched the homes of seven Amazon managers and the offices of auditing firm KPMG.
The probe is a new strand of an investigation looking into whether Amazon had an undisclosed, permanent base in Italy from 2019 to 2024 and should therefore have paid more taxes in the country.
AMAZON CALLS SEARCHES 'AGGRESSIVE AND DISPROPORTIONATE'
Amazon said in a statement that the Milan prosecutors actions were "aggressive and wholly disproportionate" while it was engaged in a "transparent dialogue with Italian tax authorities to gain clarity on complex technical matters."
It said that in March 2025 it "submitted an application for enhanced cooperation with the Italian Revenue Agency requesting formal confirmation on the correct tax treatment of our activities, the same activities that are the subject of today's action by the Prosecutor's Office".
The company said it was "committed to paying all taxes in Italy" and is one of the country's top 50 taxpayers.
"Unpredictable regulatory environments, disproportionate penalties, and protracted legal proceedings are increasingly affecting Italy's attractiveness as an investment destination", it added.
KPMG declined to comment.
Milan prosecutors have opened an investigation into Amazon EU Sarl, which is based in Luxembourg, and its director, on suspicion of failing to declare income, a 13-page search warrant seen by Reuters showed.
According to the warrant, Amazon had a permanent establishment in Italy even before August 2024, when the group entered a "co-operative compliance" programme with Italy's tax agency and began paying taxes in Italy.
Based on the investigation and witness statements, the warrant said Amazon EU Sarl in 2024 dismissed and rehired 159 employees of another Amazon company, which prosecutors believe constituted a permanent establishment in Italy until then.
POLICE SEIZE MANAGERS' COMPUTERS
Tax police seized, among other items, computers and other IT devices belonging to managers, including hard drives where staff emails are stored after they are deleted from Amazon systems every three months, the sources said.
The search at KPMG, which is not under investigation, was prompted by the fact that it was among the firms that provided an opinion on the actions at the centre of the probe.
The latest move is only one of a number of cases involving Amazon in Italy.
The company in December agreed with Italy's tax collection agency to pay 510 million euros ($605.88 million) to settle one of its tax disputes.
In that dispute, Milan prosecutors, who suspect evasion amounting to some 1.2 billion euros related to 2019-2021, expect to wrap up their probe early this year, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Prosecutors are also conducting two other investigations into the company - one involving alleged tax evasion relating to 2021-2024, and another centred on alleged customs and tax fraud involving Chinese imports.
In addition, an Italian Amazon unit late last year paid compensation and scrapped a monitoring system for delivery staff, ending a separate probe into alleged tax fraud and illegal labour practices.
($1 = 0.8418 euros)
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi, editing by Crispian Balmer and Gavin Jones)
