According to Reuters, the Kering group of companies, which unites several leading French luxury brands at once, is close to paying from 1.3 to 1.4 billion euros (1.5-1.6 billion US dollars) as part of the settlement of a dispute with the Italian authorities over unpaid taxes of a fashion house owned by the group Gucci. It is expected that the agreement between Kering and the Italian tax service will be signed in early May. This agreement may become the largest tax agreement ever agreed by the company with the Italian tax authorities.

At the same time, the Kering group itself, which previously denied the possibility of tax evasion, stating that the activities of all its brands fully comply with all tax obligations, has not yet given any comments. It was not possible to get comments from the Italian tax authorities at the moment.

Earlier this year, representatives of the Kering group said that the company was presented with a claim for non-payment of Italian taxes in the amount of 1.4 billion euros. Representatives of the group also added that they would challenge the preliminary conclusions of the tax service.

The Swiss-based subsidiary of the Luxury Goods International (LGI) group is under investigation on charges of tax evasion on profits earned elsewhere. Most of the charges focus on Gucci, whose offices in Milan and Florence were raided by Italian police in late 2017. In November 2018, the Milan Prosecutor's Office completed an investigation into alleged tax evasion by Gucci in the amount of more than 1 billion euros in respect of income recorded between 2010 and 2016. Prosecutors say that income earned through LGI should be taxed in Italy, not Switzerland.

In accordance with the settlement agreement, the Kering group will be spared the need to pay interest and penalties for overdue tax payments, which, according to one source, would add about 500 million euros to the final bill.

Author: Tatiana Egorova

Photo: from open sources