Although Amazon achieved record sales in 2020, the company pays zero corporate tax at its EU headquarters in Luxembourg. They receive even €56 million in tax credits there. These tax tricks harming the public good must come to an end. The EU governments must not continue to block the digital tax. Keep up the pressure and share our petition here!
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Amazon EU Sarl's latest corporate accounts reveal that Amazon paid no corporate taxes at its EU headquarters despite record profits in 2020. Amazon EU Sarl's turnover rose from €32 billion in 2019 to €44 billion in 2020 - an increase of 37.5 per cent. Yet Amazon EU Sarl does not have to pay any corporate taxes in Luxembourg as the company reported a loss of €1.2 billion. Not only did Amazon not have to pay any corporate taxes in Luxembourg in 2020, but the Luxembourg tax authorities granted Amazon EU Sarl €56 million in tax credits. This gives the company a total of €2.7 billion in loss carry-forwards that it can use to stave off paying taxes in the future, according to the UK's Guardian newspaper. Amazon's headquarters in Luxembourg handles sales in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the UK, with 5,262 employees.
While small shops are forced to close, Amazon makes record profits and refuses to contribute to the community. The latest findings make it abundantly clear why we need an effective minimum tax rate for multinationals. The tax haven of Luxembourg is harming its European neighbours and depriving them of billions in tax revenue. With an effective minimum tax rate of 21 per cent, the EU countries could reclaim their rightful tax revenues from Amazon. We now need a transatlantic alliance for more tax justice. We must no longer be thwarted by the lack of solidarity from tax havens in Europe. Joe Biden has presented a plan with which the aggrieved countries can turn the tables. That many EU governments do not explicitly support Biden's plan is an indictment. The Governments must finally take a firm stand against tax losses and abandon their blockade of tax transparency (incl. public country-by-country-reporting).
We owe the information on Amazon's corporate balance sheet in the Grand Duchy to the Luxembourg transparency register. The introduction of transparency registers goes back to a negotiating success of the European Parliament. Unfortunately, the quality of transparency registers in many EU countries, including Germany, leaves much to be desired. The example of Amazon in Luxembourg shows the public interest in the content of transparency registers. The EU Commission must finally take action against incomplete transparency registers with infringement proceedings.
Unfortunately, the annual balance sheet does not show from which countries Amazon shifted profits and losses to Luxembourg. For this, we finally need public country-by-country tax reporting for large companies.
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Corporate balance sheet of Amazon EU Sarl for 2020 available here: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/20693982/amazon-eu-sarl-end-dec-2020.pdf
Guardian report: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/may/04/amazon-sales-income-europe-corporation-tax-luxembourg