according to A survey conducted by Lewis Business School In Rome, with the backing of Amazon, both traditional retail and e-commerce feature some of the highest levels of taxation in Italy, linked to the added value created. [1]Tax levels in 2022 average around 20% overall, with e-commerce (21%) being slightly higher than traditional retail (19%). Moreover, between 2016 and 2022, the tax burden from retail has increased, especially for online transactions. The study highlights that retail is characterized by low operating margins, resulting in a relatively low tax burden on revenues (median around 3%). It also highlights the role of digital intermediaries in commercial transactions, due to the larger amount of indirect taxes they collect.
The study aimed to investigate how the Italian tax system is applied to companies and whether the tax burden is evenly distributed across sectors. Economic and financial analysis was carried out to assess the impact of the tax burden, analysing key indicators from the financial statements of the top 3,000 companies operating in Italy by industry sector.
According to the findings, the top 50 taxpayers in Italy paid a total of €3.13 billion in direct taxes and social security contributions to the Italian government in 2022. On average, these top 50 corporate taxpayers paid approximately €62 million in taxes each. Amazon's total direct taxes in 2022 will exceed €321 million, ranking it among the top 50 Italian companies by total tax payments to the government. Amazon's tax payments are consistent with the findings that its overall tax burden on revenue is comparable to other companies operating in the retail sector.
our Economic Impact Blogour total tax payments, including direct and indirect taxes, for 2022 (reference year for the study) will exceed €1,147 million (53% increase compared to €751 million in 2021), while total revenues from Amazon's activities in Italy will exceed €9,440 million (8% increase compared to €8,750 million in 2021), which can be broken down as follows:
- total Direct taxes incurred amount to more than €321 million (24% increase on €258 million in 2021). Employer taxes make up a large share of this. Other direct taxes include corporate income tax, taxes paid on land acquisition or construction, digital services tax and import duties.
- Additional Indirect taxes: 826 million euros (68% increase compared to €493 million in 2021) The increase was due to the Italian business activities. This is the taxes we collect and remit from our customers, employees and other third parties, such as VAT and taxes paid by our employees. The increase in 2022 is mainly due to net VAT. 1st As of July 2021, Amazon has been collecting and submitting Italian VAT on transactions involving international merchants. This VAT is calculated by Amazon and collected from customers at checkout.
[1] Value added is a measure of the increase in value that occurs in the production and distribution of goods and services – the difference between the value of production and intermediate costs.
