[Ireland] Airbnb will pay €576m to settle Italian tax claim

Airbnb’s Irish unit has agreed to pay the Italian tax authorities €576 million to settle allegations that it had failed to pay sufficient tax, The Irish Times reports.

In a regulatory filing on December 13,  Airbnb stated that it does not acknowledge “any liability” as part of the settlement. The San Francisco-based company’s European headquarters are in Dublin.

Italy’s finance police had reportedly claimed that the company failed to pay taxes on about €3.7 billion of rental revenue and asserted that Airbnb owed about €779 million after an audit of the tax years from 2017 to 2021.

Airbnb remains in discussion about its taxes for 2022 and 2023 and the amounts involved may be “material”, the company said in a statement.

The settlement is reportedly lower than the amount Italian authorities had originally pursued, however, it is still equivalent to about a third of the company’s quarterly adjusted earnings.

Italian authorities are increasing their scrutiny of how global companies operating in Italy pay tax. 

In 2019, Italian prosecutors investigated Netflix following the US company's failure to file a return, sources at the time said. 

In early 2023, Milan prosecutors began an investigation of Facebook parent company Meta for alleged unpaid VAT totalling about €870 million, sources said in February.

A spokesman for Italy’s tax agency reportedly declined Bloomberg’s request for comment.

Source: The Irish Times

(Quotes via original reporting)

Airbnb’s Irish unit has agreed to pay the Italian tax authorities €576 million to settle allegations that it had failed to pay sufficient tax, The Irish Times reports.

In a regulatory filing on December 13,  Airbnb stated that it does not acknowledge “any liability” as part of the settlement. The San Francisco-based company’s European headquarters are in Dublin.

Italy’s finance police had reportedly claimed that the company failed to pay taxes on about €3.7 billion of rental revenue and asserted that Airbnb owed about €779 million after an audit of the tax years from 2017 to 2021.

Airbnb remains in discussion about its taxes for 2022 and 2023 and the amounts involved may be “material”, the company said in a statement.

The settlement is reportedly lower than the amount Italian authorities had originally pursued, however, it is still equivalent to about a third of the company’s quarterly adjusted earnings.

Italian authorities are increasing their scrutiny of how global companies operating in Italy pay tax. 

In 2019, Italian prosecutors investigated Netflix following the US company's failure to file a return, sources at the time said. 

In early 2023, Milan prosecutors began an investigation of Facebook parent company Meta for alleged unpaid VAT totalling about €870 million, sources said in February.

A spokesman for Italy’s tax agency reportedly declined Bloomberg’s request for comment.

Source: The Irish Times

(Quotes via original reporting)