Pfizer is under investigation in Italy over claims it funneled more than $1 billion in profits out of the country to evade taxes.
Italy’s financial police believe the company’s local branch near Rome has sent $1.2 billion in excess revenue abroad, according to people familiar with the investigation.
The study began in February and covers 2017, 2018 and 2019 – before the Covid pandemic.
Pfizer is accused of transferring the money to foreign affiliates connected to its bases in Delaware and the Netherlands.
Profits made during that time may be subject to Italy’s 26 percent corporate tax rate.
Audits are currently being conducted by the finance department with Pfizer, but they have yet to be kept informed of their findings, sources said. Bloomberg.
In a statement, New York-based Pfizer said it “complies” with all laws and obligations in Italy.
It comes after Pfizer was accused of excessive greed over plans to increase its Covid vaccines by 10,000 percent in the US next year.
Once the government has used up the doses already purchased, Pfizer will raise the price to as much as $130 for a single dose of the vaccine, which some experts estimate cost just $1.18 to make.
Italy’s financial police believe the local branch of the US company outside Rome has sent its profits abroad to avoid taxes, sources say. (Pictured: Pfizer’s headquarters in Italy, just outside Rome)
Pfizer is charging $130 for its COVID-19 vaccine — a 10,000% markup from the estimated $1.18 it will cost them to develop a single dose of the vaccine. The company charged the US government about $20 per injection, but raised prices in an effort to make up for poor demand for the jabs. It is predicted to bring in more than $100 billion in revenue this year and $81.2 billion last year. These numbers clearly make the $40 billion a year it made the years before. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has earned $50 million in compensation over the past two years, while BioNTech found that Dr. Ugar Sahin is now a billionaire.
The Italian financial police has declined to comment, but the checks are considered an administrative check rather than a criminal investigation.
Pfizer is not yet aware of the findings.
The company said in a statement: “Italian tax authorities routinely investigate Pfizer taxes and Pfizer cooperates in such audits and investigations.
“Pfizer complies with Italy’s tax laws and requirements.”
Yesterday, the incoming Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in parliament that she will focus more on large multinational companies under her tax authorities.
In the three years that the investigation has been running, Pfizer has generated $33 billion in profits worldwide. The Italian branch employs about 2,000 people.
The company has a factory in the central region of Marche, where it produces pills for cancer and nervous system disorders.
It also has a factory in Sicily that makes sterile injectable drugs such as antibiotics
Pfizer was also one of the big winners of the pandemic.
The company expects total sales of $102 billion this year with the vaccine and Paxlovid — the antiviral pill supported by the White House to treat Covid — leading the way.
The company’s leaders have also benefited greatly from this endeavor. CEO Albert Bourla is estimated to make about $50 million in 2021 and 2022.
dr. Ugur Sahin, the mastermind behind the Covid shot and CEO of Pfizer’s German partner BioNTech, is one of nine “vaccine billionaires” to emerge during the pandemic.
The People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA) — a nonprofit that campaigns for vaccine equality — described the price hike as a “daylight robbery.”
Pfizer announced last week that it would price its shot at $130. The price will go into effect in the US when the supply of government shots runs out.
“Experts have estimated that Pfizer’s vaccine costs just $1.18 per dose to make,” PVA policy adviser Julia Kosgei said in a statement.
“Charging $130 per dose would add up to more than ten thousand percent. This is daylight robbery.
“Governments should not stand by as companies like Pfizer hold the world to pay ransom in a global pandemic.”
Until early 2023, vaccines will be available for free to all Americans, regardless of insurance status.
The federal government purchases the shots from Pfizer at a price of about $20 per dose and then distributes them to suppliers across the country.
The Biden administration has failed to convince Congress to approve $15 billion in funding to continue the purchase of vaccines and therapies until next year.
Pfizer claims it will struggle to meet revenue forecasts this year without increasing the price of the jabs, according to a Reuters report.