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Amazon: Despite mega sales - Internet giant does not pay a cent in taxes in the EU

2021-05-08T12:03:13.040Z


The corona pandemic has accelerated the trend towards internet shopping once again. The boom brought Amazon astronomical profits, but in Europe the group pays no taxes - on the contrary.


The corona pandemic has accelerated the trend towards internet shopping once again.

The boom brought Amazon astronomical profits, but in Europe the group pays no taxes - on the contrary.

Seattle - 65 percent more profit than expected: At the end of April, the Internet giant Amazon presented its quarterly figures - and pulverized the already huge expectations for the fourth time in a row. In the first quarter, the online giant reported an increase in sales of 44 percent to 108.5 billion dollars. Operationally, Amazon tripled profit at the start of the year to $ 8.9 billion. The stock then soared and set a new record.

Amazon generates a not inconsiderable part of its profits in Europe.

The European branch had sales of 44 billion euros last year.

Sales in Germany alone rose in the first Corona year by around 33 percent to around 24.7 billion euros - Amazon only generates more income in the USA.

But the online giant has not paid corporate tax despite the mega profit, as the British newspaper

The Guardian

reports.

Despite mega sales, Amazon officially writes a loss in Europe - tax exemptions beckon

Although Amazon is benefiting from the corona pandemic like no other company, the European branch based in Luxembourg officially recorded a loss of 1.2 billion euros. That makes corporation tax obsolete. Even more: According to the

food

newspaper, the supposedly deficit Amazon branch was awarded 56 million euros in tax credits, which could be offset against possible future profits to reduce taxes.

British Labor MP Margaret Hodge raised the

alarm

in the

Guardian

: "Amazon's revenues have soared due to the pandemic while our inner cities are struggling," she said.

Amazon is redirecting its profits to tax havens like Luxembourg and thus avoiding paying its fair tax share.

Amazon: Internet retailer will probably not pay taxes in the EU for years

Paul Monaghan, Managing Director of the British Fair Tax Foundation, confirms that: Amazons book the majority of their income in Great Britain and Germany, he says.

In view of the enormous losses carried forward, he is certain that this would remain the case in the years to come. 

At Amazon, as expected, one sees things differently, declares the practice to be legal and refers to low profits due to the high investments and small margins in online trading.

"We have invested more than 78 billion euros in Europe since 2010, and a large part of this investment flows into the infrastructure, which creates many thousands of new jobs," the

food

newspaper

quoted

an Amazon spokesman

as saying

.

Amazon is not an isolated case: Facebook, Google and Co. also use loopholes in the system

According to the Fair Tax Foundation, Amazon's tax concept is not an isolated case.

Many multinational companies would use complex structures to exploit loopholes in the system.

The six largest American tech companies alone (Amazon, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Apple and Microsoft) would have "saved" at least one hundred billion dollars in the past ten years.

Amazon's tax practice is also currently being criticized in the USA.

Just a few weeks ago, US President Joe Biden attacked Amazon: Many of the world's 500 largest companies, "including Amazon", would not pay a single cent in federal tax.

That is "simply wrong".

As a result, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos spoke out in favor of higher taxes on company profits.

List of rubric lists: © Rolf Vennenbernd / dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-05-08

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