The Italian tax authorities have issued a VAT assessment of 870 million euros against the US group Meta for the period 2015 to 2021. They consider that there is an exchange agreement between the users and the platforms operated by the Meta group, such as Facebook, on the basis of which Meta owes the VAT on the value of the access to the respective platform. Accordingly, the users are in fact paying with their data for access and for the use of the group’s platforms. The case is also interesting for Swiss companies that provide private users in the EU area with free (or very cheap) online access, e.g. to information platforms, and in doing so retrieve/economically use customer data.
Source: primetax.ch
