Excitement in Milan

Raid at Amazon subsidiary: millions seized

The Milan public prosecutor's office is investigating a logistics subsidiary of the US internet giant Amazon.

(Bild: AP)

Raid in Italy: The Milan public prosecutor's office confiscated 120 million euros from the Italian Amazon subsidiary Amazon Italia Transport srl (AIT) on Tuesday.

The suspicion is tax fraud in the digital pipeline. This concerns the employees entrusted with deliveries, who bring the goods ordered online from the warehouse to the destination chosen by the customer.

Logistics sector under increased scrutiny
This is the 21st investigation into the logistics sector by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, which has already targeted giants such as DHL, Uber and UPS. AIT's management software, which organizes the work of individual couriers, exercises direct control over each employee to ensure the correct execution of the instructions transmitted by the IT tool. According to the letter from the Milan public prosecutor's office, AIT also exercises the powers of an employer over employees who are not formally employed by it.

Couriers not directly employed by Amazon Italia Transport
As the couriers are not employed directly, but by cooperatives, AIT saves itself considerable amounts of money in taxes and social security contributions, according to the accusation against Amazon Italia Transport srl. This enables the company to "operate on the market with competitive prices" due to a mechanism determined by the digital externalization of couriers without them being formally employed.

The phenomenon under investigation lies at the intersection between traditional outsourcing, which companies use to free themselves from the burden of personnel management, and the use of workers who are managed according to their own needs.