Prada signs Italian tax cooperation agreement

Italian fashion house Prada has signed a cooperation agreement with Italy's tax authorities, it said on Thursday.

The scheme, known as cooperative compliance regime, involves an exchange of information between the company and authorities to avoid disputes and help the business to avoid unexpected tax demands.

Prada said the move would "strengthen the level of certainty on the most relevant tax matters".

Other big Italian companies, including confectionery group Ferrero and state-controlled defence company Leonardo , have signed the same type of agreement.

The Milan-based fashion company said the decision was part of a broader tax strategy designed to minimise risk and "promote ... fairness and compliance with the law".

In December last year prosecutors asked a judge to drop a tax investigation into Prada's chief executive Miuccia Prada and her husband and co-CEO Patrizio Bertelli.

The company and its subsidiaries were not involved in the alleged tax avoidance investigation that started in January 2014.

The investigation had been opened after the Prada family holding company had completed a process of voluntary disclosure, which also involved repatriating assets it held in Luxembourg and the Netherlands.