AN investigation into the tax dealings of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana has been dropped. A spokesperson for Italy's excise and revenue police confirmed yesterday that it had recommended the designers be charged with tax evasion and abuse of rights - and that they should be fined €800 million. The allegations levelled at the designers surround the sale of the Dolce & Gabbana and D&G brands to the designers' Luxembourg-based holding company Gado Srl. An inquiry has discovered the firm, Gado Srl, was in fact run from Italy. (The designers were accused of creating a company in Luxembourg between 2004 and 2005, through which sales royalties were passed in a bid to avoid paying Italian higher rate taxes ).
The duo claimed they have paid all taxes due relating to the sale of the company - and that the figures being noted by police investigators are hypothetical and far wide of the mark. Police allege that Gado is a legal entity, specifically set up to avoid higher corporate taxes in Italy.
domenico & stefano said "We wish! We will tell the 3,800 employees of the companies, which compose the group, that we have paid all that was due and that we will strenuously defend ourselves to avoid being unjustly forced to pay for something that never existed in the first place."
According to the police, Dolce and Gabbana also lied about how much they sold their company for, and therefore owe more taxes for the transaction than they paid at the time. While the investigations against Gabbana and Dolce themselves have now been dropped, The investigation has now been terminated and no formal charges made against them, seven other members of the company are still being probed, and they may have to pay an estimated $1.12 billion in fines and back taxes.
So it seems 2010 will not end well after Prada's financial problems last week and DG now. Let's wait and see what the coming months will hide for us.
xxx
S.
0 Yorumlar