Amazon has reached an agreement with Italy’s tax collection agency to pay 510 million euros (approximately $582 million) to resolve a major tax dispute covering the period 2019-2021.

However, this civil settlement has failed to appease judicial authorities, as Milan’s prosecutors have taken the highly unusual step of publicly disagreeing with the accord and vowing to continue their parallel criminal investigation into the U.S. technology giant.

The 510 million euro settlement was concluded with the Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) and addresses tax liabilities stemming from Amazon’s operations, particularly concerning where profits were booked versus where sales took place. The figure represents about 43% of the €1.2 billion in alleged tax evasion Milan prosecutors suspect is linked to the 2019-2021 period.

This is not the first time Amazon has settled a major tax case in Italy. In 2017, the company paid €100 million to resolve disputes dating back to 2011-2015. More recently, an Italian Amazon logistics unit settled a separate probe into alleged tax fraud and illegal labor practices earlier this month by paying approximately €180 million and dismantling a controversial algorithm-based delivery staff monitoring system.

This total of over €720 million paid in recent years underlines the aggressive stance Italian authorities have taken toward taxing multinational tech firms.

Despite the significant civil payment, the Milan Prosecutor’s Office is pushing forward with its criminal probe. This unusual split suggests a fundamental disagreement between the administrative tax body and the judicial branch over the severity and extent of the alleged fraud. Prosecutors, who suspect evasion potentially reaching €1.2 billion and perhaps €3 billion when penalties and interest are factored in, are expected to wrap up their investigation—which places Amazon’s Luxembourg-based European unit and three executives under scrutiny—early next year.

Amazon confirmed the settlement without specifying the amount, but issued a strong rebuke against the ongoing judicial action. The company stated it “will forcefully defend our position on the potential ungrounded criminal case.”

Furthermore, Amazon criticized the regulatory climate, arguing that “Unpredictable regulatory environments, disproportionate penalties, and protracted legal proceedings are increasingly affecting Italy’s attractiveness as an investment destination.”

The Core of the Criminal Allegations: VAT Evasion

The heart of the ongoing criminal investigation involves suspected Value-Added Tax (VAT) fraud related to cross-border e-commerce transactions, specifically concerning non-EU third-party sellers on the Amazon marketplace.

Under Italian law, since 2019, e-commerce platforms like Amazon are held jointly responsible for the non-payment of VAT by non-EU sellers who use their marketplace to sell goods directly to Italian customers. This law, which anticipated a broader EU-wide reform (DAC7) implemented in 2021, aims to standardize VAT collection and prevent tax losses.

Prosecutors allege that between 2019 and 2021, Amazon failed to collect and remit VAT on behalf of these non-EU sellers, many of whom are Chinese, allowing them to evade Italian tax. The total value of the transactions under scrutiny is substantial, potentially posing a direct challenge to Amazon’s core marketplace business model across Europe if the allegations are upheld. The investigation focuses on whether Amazon’s operational algorithms and structures intentionally facilitated the evasion of these obligations.

Multiple Fronts of Scrutiny

The tax dispute is merely one component of Amazon’s growing legal exposure in Italy. Milan prosecutors are currently conducting at least two other, separate, and active investigations into the company’s activities:

• Second Tax Evasion Probe: A new investigation focusing on alleged tax evasion covering the more recent period of 2021 to 2024.
• Customs and Tax Fraud Probe: A separate investigation centered on alleged customs and tax fraud involving the importation of goods from China. This probe examines whether proper customs duties and taxes were applied to products crossing EU borders.

The relentless scrutiny in Italy, which is mirrored by increased regulatory intensity across the European Union, underscores the global effort to ensure that digital economy profits are taxed appropriately where sales occur, rather than being routed through low-tax jurisdictions.

Vingroup is steering its global ambitions deeper into India after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Telangana state government for a proposed $3 billion investment that would create a sprawling multi-sector ecosystem across the southern state.

It is the Vietnamese conglomerate’s most ambitious foreign plan yet, eclipsing even the $2 billion VinFast plant rising in North Carolina.

The company said the projects would span smart urban development, electric mobility, healthcare, education, tourism, and renewable energy, spread across roughly 2,500 hectares. Telangana’s government, eager to anchor more global capital within its borders, is committed to helping the conglomerate secure land, accelerate regulatory clearances, and coordinate long-term planning.

Sanjay Kumar, Telangana’s Special Chief Secretary, said the intention is to turn the state into a natural entry point for Vietnamese and Southeast Asian companies targeting India’s fast-growing market.

“We are committed to positioning Telangana as the gateway for Vietnamese and South-East Asian investment into India’s fastest-growing economy,” he said.

Vingroup, which has built a reputation at home as Vietnam’s most influential conglomerate, is now moving aggressively to establish a regional footprint. India has grown increasingly central to those plans. Its EV subsidiary, VinFast, already operates a major manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, and just last week announced a $500 million expansion to scale production in an EV market where global automakers are jockeying for early advantage.

The Telangana plan widens that presence beyond vehicles. The proposal includes a 1,080-hectare smart city project, a 350-hectare theme park, and a 500 MW solar farm to power the wider ecosystem. Plugging into the government’s development push also gives Vingroup a chance to embed its healthcare, education, and tourism businesses—sectors that have helped underpin its expansion across Asia.

Pham Sanh Chau, CEO of Vingroup Asia and VinFast Asia, said the group sees “tremendous potential in Telangana,” stressing that the partnership was aimed at long-term sustainable development.

India offers both scale and momentum. Telangana alone has a population of around 38.5 million and has become one of southern India’s busiest investment hubs, home to global technology giants, fast-growing EV activity, and industrial clusters that have drawn sustained foreign interest.

Vingroup’s expansion, though, comes with financial undercurrents that investors continue to track. The company reported a net profit of 7.565 trillion dong ($287.42 million) for the first nine months of 2025—almost double what it posted during the same period in 2024. But growth has pushed up leverage. Total debt stood at $12.35 billion as of September 2025, with nearly half tied to bank loans and syndicated credit lines.

The EV arm, VinFast, remains a pressure point. Despite expanding into the United States, Southeast Asia, and now India, its losses continue to deepen. The company is still betting that scale, especially in price-sensitive and fast-growing markets like India, will help turn the curve.

VinFast’s affiliate GSM has also been pushing large-scale electric taxi fleets in multiple markets. The Telangana plan is expected to offer new terrain for that model.

The agreement did not include a timeline for the deployment of funds, but the scale signals a long-horizon bet on India’s economic trajectory. It also shows how Vietnamese corporations are broadening their global sweep, leveraging domestic strength to challenge competitors far beyond Southeast Asia.

The deal lands at a moment when states across India are fiercely competing for manufacturing and green-tech investment. The state government has spent years cultivating the identity of a technology-forward hub, and Vingroup’s interest gives it another marquee name to anchor that narrative.

The push into Telangana reinforces a broader strategy for Vinigroup: that India, with its booming consumer market and rising EV appetite, is too big a stage to sit out.