Exclusive-Italy targets ION in latest Big Tech tax evasion probe, sources say

By Valentina Za and Emilio Parodi

ROME (Reuters) -Italy is seeking 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) from fintech group ION following a probe by prosecutors in the northern city of Bologna into alleged tax evasion over the 2013-2023 period, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The investigation adds to a string of tax evasion cases in Italy targeting U.S. tech companies, which are also at the centre of a wider EU response to the trade war sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.

In February, Italian prosecutors said they were dropping a case brought against the European division of Googleafter the company agreed to pay 326 million euros to settle a tax claim relating to the 2015-2019 period.

Also in February, sources told Reuters Italian prosecutors were investigating e-commerce giant Amazon and three of its executives over alleged tax evasion worth 1.2 billion euros.

ION Group is a privately held provider of financial services software and data based in Dublin and with offices across the globe which was founded by Andrea Pignataro, an Italian businessman hailing from Bologna.

ION has spent around 6 billion euros on a series of acquisitions in Italy in recent years as Pignataro works to build a hub to provide data and digital services to smaller banks.

The sum Italy's tax authorities are demanding from ION includes up to 500 million euros in missing revenues, which more than doubles when interest payments are added, one of the sources said.

ION's lawyers are in discussions with the Italian tax authority to contest the claims, the person added.

The charge is failure to file a tax return, the second source said, with prosecutors and Italy's tax police in Bologna alleging that the company declared income abroad that was actually produced in Italy.

Reuters reported last month that Italy had handed tax demands to Meta, X and LinkedIn in an unprecedented VAT claim against the U.S. tech giants that could have repercussionsacross the EU.

(Reporting by Valentina Za and Emilio Parodi, editing by Giselda Vagnoni and David Gregorio)