Spring is around the corner, but the long Italian Autumn/Winter season of tax evasion isn't finished yet.
On Thursday the Italian Guardia di Finanza (tax police) seized 46 million euros (59 million U.S. dollars) worth of assets - among them bank accounts, insurance policies, shareholdings and real-estate, including Rome's shop in the glamorous Via dei Condotti - owned by the luxury group Bulgari, accused of tax evasion.
According to accusations and to an investigation that started last year, the company allegedly hid 3 billion euros (3.8 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue from tax authorities between 2006 and 2011. The evasion was carried out through what the tax police called an "escape strategy", that is holding companies based in Ireland and the Netherlands, created to escape taxation in Italy (Ireland is not considered as a tax haven and has a light tax rate of 12.5 percent; this is why Bulgari established there Bvlgari Ireland Ltd (Beire), controlled by the Italian Bulgari S.p.a.).
In 2011 the company was acquired by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, but Paolo and Nicola Bulgari, the grandchildren of founder Sotirio Bulgari, are still stakeholders.
The two men were put under investigation together with the group's legal representatives Maurizio Valentini and Francesco Trapani in relation to the allegations. According to media reports, Trapani stated that Bulgari always respected fiscal rules in Italy and abroad and called the police charges "unfounded".
Apart from paying the due taxes if it truly evaded them (maybe the Italian post office could issue another celebratory stamp - after the one for Bulgari's 125th anniversary, we could get "2006-2011 - Five Years of Tax Evasion in Dazzling Style"...), Bulgari may also want to start reconsidering its risible fragrace ads: the latest commercial for Bulgari Man Extreme features a man whose fragrance is so "extreme" that even the wildest animals avoid him.
Jokes aside, Bulgari's alleged tax evasion follows other glamorous tax evasion stories (the most famous remains the one involving the Gucci family) like Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana and the Marzotto Group's.
It's easy to wonder if the fashion industry will ever be a tax fraud-free zone in future or if its favourite slogan will keep on being "Keep Calm and Carry on Evading Taxes". It is indeed almost too easy to start guessing who is doing it.
The Daily Beast recently attempted to pin down the costs of Anna Dello Russo's fashion week wardrobe and eventually estimated it ranging between $172,779 and $200,379. It would be interesting to know if she a) actually buys those clothes at full price; b) gets them with a heavy discount; c) gets them for free; d) gets designers and PR agents to lend them for the occasion.
In case the answer is a) or b), it would be even more interesting to know if she pays her taxes and if she actually declares all her collaborations and jobs as advisor (let's be frank, even with a job as über editor you wouldn't be able to afford these clothes) or if this micro celebrity generated by the Internet is too busy working on her image to actually do so. Time will tell, but it looks like the long Autumn/Winter season of Italian tax evasion may extend into the Spring/Summer.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and PhotosMember of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments