Airbnb Faces Tax Woes in Italy: $835M Seized by Finance Police from $4Bn Rent Revenue
Italy’s Finance Police is seizing about €779 million ($835 million) from the home-sharing company Airbnb Inc. after it allegedly failed to pay some taxes.
Airbnb didn’t pay Italy the 21% withholding taxes owed on about €3.7 billion of rental revenue, according to a statement Monday from Milan Tribunal prosecutors. Three people who worked for the San Francisco-based company during that time are under investigation, the statement added.
Airbnb said in its own statement that European staff was in active discussions with the Italian tax agency to resolve this issue since June.
“We are surprised and disappointed at the action announced by the Italian public prosecutor on Monday,” said Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty. “We are confident that we have acted in full compliance with the law and intend to exercise our rights with respect to this issue.”
The move follows an effort by Italian and European authorities to scrutinize the tax practices of global companies. In 2019, Italian prosecutors probed Netflix Inc. after the US streaming company failed to file a return, people familiar with the matter said at that time.
Earlier this year, Milan prosecutors started investigating Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc. for alleged unpaid value-added taxes that totaled about €870 million, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg last February.