Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 11, 2024
2 min readLast updated: March 1, 2026
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Italy's web tax targets big tech firms, sparing SMEs. The tax applies to companies with over 750 million euros in sales, despite U.S. opposition.
ROME (Reuters) - Italy will focus its domestic web tax on big tech companies while shunning small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and publishing groups, policymakers said on Wednesday.
The move comes despite recent renewed calls from the United States for the Italian government to scrap the scheme.
In 2019, Rome introduced a 3% levy on revenue from internet transactions for digital companies with annual sales of at least 750 million euros ($788.40 million) if at least 5.5 million are made in Italy.
As part of the budget bill, the Treasury tried to remove these floors for the tax to be applied, in a move critics said would be a blow to smaller companies.
Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti has said broadening the scope of Italy's web tax could help the government avoid clashes with the United States, which considers the scheme unfairly discriminatory as it mainly targets U.S. tech companies such as Meta Platforms, Google and Amazon.
However, after skirmishes with the co-ruling Forza Italia party, the government is leaning towards reinstating the 750 million euro revenue floor, a government official and some lawmakers said.
Rome also wants to cut the IRES corporate tax for companies that hire and invest under certain conditions.
The measure has an estimated cost of around 400 million euros, which the Treasury plans to cover by seeking an additional contribution from banks and insurers, lawmakers added.
Italy expects to raise more than 5 billion euros from the financial sector over the next three years through a package of measures already included in Rome's 2025 budget.
($1 = 0.9513 euros)
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, editing by Giselda Vagnoni)
The article discusses Italy's focus on taxing big tech companies while exempting smaller firms from the web tax.
The U.S. views the tax as discriminatory since it mainly affects American tech companies like Meta, Google, and Amazon.
Italy plans to cover the cost by seeking additional contributions from banks and insurers.
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