What changed
Notice concluding a Milan investigation into import VAT and customs duties on more than 1.5 million non-EU products sold through Amazon in Italy
When
Reported November 10, 2026; police raids were in November 2025
Who it affects
Amazon EU S.a.r.l., two senior Amazon managers and scores of online store operators, 70 suspects in total
What to do
Match every EU inbound shipment to a customs declaration and import VAT payment in your own name or your agent's

Key takeaways

  • Milan prosecutors told Amazon EU and two managers on November 10, 2026 they could face trial over import VAT on more than 1.5 million non-EU products.
  • The 70 suspects include scores of store operators accused of bypassing customs declarations; Amazon calls the case ungrounded.
  • EU sellers should match every inbound shipment to a customs declaration, a named importer and paid import VAT.

How the Milan import VAT case got here

  1. Police raid Amazon Italy HQ in Milan and a hub near Bergamo

  2. EU 3 euro duty replaces exemption on many items under 150 euros

  3. Notice to Amazon EU, 2 managers and 67 others: possible trial

  4. Suspects file evidence; prosecutors decide on trial request

What Milan prosecutors served

According to Reuters, prosecutors served a notice that closes the investigative stage, a step that usually comes before a request for trial. It is not a charge and not a finding of guilt. Amazon EU is targeted under Italy's corporate liability law, alongside two senior managers. Recipients can now file arguments, documents and evidence before prosecutors decide whether to ask a judge for a trial.

Prosecutors allege that more than 1.5 million products from outside the EU were sold through Amazon's marketplace and logistics network in Italy without proper payment of import VAT and customs duties. They put unpaid import VAT at more than 3.52 million euros, about $3.95 million, and say customs authorities are still calculating the duties, so the claim could rise.

Why sellers are in the file, not just Amazon

The 70 suspects include scores of online store operators who, prosecutors allege, imported mainly Chinese made goods while bypassing customs declarations and import taxes. The case against Amazon is different: prosecutors allege it failed to put in place organisational measures able to prevent customs offences and did not adequately check sellers, customs documents or goods moving through its warehouses.

Reuters reports prosecutors also allege Amazon knew, or should reasonably have known, that around 80% of goods handled through its Italian logistics system came from China, and that its automated logistics systems had no direct access in Italy to key seller identification data held abroad. In other words, the theory is that the platform should have spotted what sellers were doing. Whatever happens to Amazon, the sellers named are the ones alleged to have dodged the tax.

How we got here and what Amazon says

Police raided Amazon's Italian headquarters in Milan and a logistics hub near Bergamo in November 2025, when prosecutors suspected the scheme could involve hundreds of thousands of products and reach beyond Italy, per Reuters. Judicial authorities in several European countries were briefed through Eurojust.

Amazon said it is committed to complying with the law, requires sellers to do the same, and will "vigorously defend our position in this ungrounded proceeding." It also said it has more than 19,000 permanent employees in Italy and warned that unpredictable regulation and long legal proceedings hurt Italy as an investment destination. Every allegation here is unproven.

So what: the math for a brand importing into the EU

Spread across the alleged 1.5 million products, 3.52 million euros of import VAT is only about 2.35 euros per item. That is the point: low value items add up, and tax authorities now chase them at volume. The EU is moving the same way. EU Today notes about 5.9 billion low value ecommerce items entered the EU in 2025, four times the 2022 level, and a temporary 3 euro duty replaced the customs exemption for many items under 150 euros from July 1, 2026. Our report on the EU IOSS 150 euro limit covers the next step.

Worked example, illustrative numbers: a home goods brand sends 10,000 units into an Italian FBA warehouse at a customs value of 8 euros each, 80,000 euros in total. At Italy's 22% standard VAT rate, import VAT is about 17,600 euros before any duty. If the freight forwarder cleared the goods under the wrong importer or undervalued them, that 17,600 euros can come back as a bill to the importer, plus duty and interest, long after the stock has sold. At a 4 euro profit per unit, it wipes out the profit on 4,400 units.

What sellers should do this week

Most of this is a records check, not a legal project. The aim is to prove, shipment by shipment, who imported your goods and that VAT was paid.

  • Operations lead: list every inbound shipment into EU fulfilment centres for the last 24 months and attach the customs declaration reference and importer name to each. Metric: 100% of shipments matched to a declaration.
  • Finance lead: confirm the importer of record on those declarations is your company or a named agent acting for you, never an unknown third party. Metric: zero shipments with an importer you cannot name.
  • Finance lead: check that import VAT on each entry was paid and reclaimed through your VAT return in the country of import, and that you hold the import VAT certificates. Metric: import VAT paid equals import VAT reclaimed.
  • Brand owner: in Seller Central, open Settings, then Tax Information, and confirm VAT numbers are loaded for every EU country where Amazon stores your stock, as our guide to selling on Amazon Europe explains. Metric: no missing VAT number warnings.
  • Operations lead: get written confirmation from your forwarder that goods are declared at the real transaction value. Metric: declared value matches supplier invoices.
  • Brand owner: if you shipped Amazon Global Logistics or used a DDP forwarder, ask for the entry documents now, before any audit. Metric: documents on file within 14 days.

EU import paper trail check

  • Customs declaration for every inbound shipment
  • Named importer of record on each entry
  • Import VAT paid and reclaimed
  • VAT numbers loaded for every storage country
  • Declared value matches supplier invoice
  • Forwarder entry documents on file

When this does not apply

If you only sell from stock that was cleared into the EU by a distributor that bought it from you, the import is theirs. Sellers who ship single orders from outside the EU to consumers follow different IOSS rules for parcels up to 150 euros. US only sellers are not affected by this case. This is news, not legal advice: Italian rules on corporate liability and customs penalties are specialist territory, so speak to an EU customs broker or tax adviser before acting on any number.

Where PPC Spider helps

Our Amazon policy updates channel tracks EU tax and customs moves as they land, and our Amazon account management team sets targets from margin after fees and taxes, so a VAT surprise shows up in the plan, not after it. For a second look at your account, start with a free Amazon audit.

Sources

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