Armani settles Italy tax row with €270m

Giorgio Armani settled a tax dispute in Italy by paying 270 million euros ($373 million) this week, Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Friday. The payment is linked to taxes owed by three foreign subsidiaries of the luxury company, which is 100-percent owned by fashion king Armani, it said. The period covered is between 2002 and 2009, when the company changed strategy and decided to bring back to Italy subsidiaries that have previously been abroad. The report said there were no more tax claims against the company, whose overall tax burden it said went up from 28.5 percent in 2010 to 44.8 percent in 2012. Giorgio Armani, now 79, founded the company in 1974. Forbes magazine said it had an annual turnover of $1.6 billion (1.2 billion euros) in 2013 and estimated the fashion designer's personal fortune at $8.5 billion (6.1 billion euros).