The Milan Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating the failure to pay VAT, between 2015 and 2021, amounting to approximately €870 million by Meta, the company that controls Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
The case was forwarded to Milan's prosecutors by colleagues from the European Anti-Fraud Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). The amount alleged against Mark Zuckerberg's American giant was calculated by the Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza. News of the tax audits was first reported by Il Fatto Quotidiano, but has been confirmed by investigators in Milan.
The Guardia di Finanza, which conducted the investigation, made a specific calculation regarding the so-called exchange of different goods. Essentially, the unpaid VAT relates to user registration on various social media platforms.
Registration is free, although the user actually pays a fee, meaning they make their personal data available, potentially allowing for profiling. It's precisely from this exchange that Meta can make a profit, which, according to legal and fiscal regulations, must be taxed with VAT.
The prosecutors of the European Public Prosecutor's Office Giordano Baggio, Sergio Spadaro and the European Deputy Prosecutor Danilo Ceccarelli initially opened an administrative investigation and renounced their jurisdiction over the case, which has now been assigned to Giovanni Polizzi, who is part of the deputies of the second department led by Tiziana Siciliano.
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