Amazon achieved record revenues in Europe last year of 27,888 million euros, 12% more than a year earlier. Despite this, the company’s holding company managed to get Luxembourg, the country where it is domiciled, a tax refund of 241 million euros. This is due to the fact that tax credits have been activated for the accumulated losses in the last two years, for a total amount of almost 1,140 million euros.
And in 2017, when the European holding company paid 54.8 million in taxes, it registered a record red number of 876.2 million euros. And as that figure must be added another 259.2 million euros at the end of the last year, Amazon now the statement now comes out to return.
The company has declined to comment, although sources consulted by this newspaper say that “although it is not that Luxembourg has paid Amazon that amount of money, it has allowed it to cushion the losses.” In fact, without the tax credits, the company would have registered red numbers amounting to more than 490 million euros last year. The losses recorded are due to the considerable expenses that the company accounts for due to the investments made. Which since 2010 have risen to 27,000 million euros in the European Union. And which have been intensifying in recent years.
EU offensive
However, the tax reimbursement takes place in full Brussels offensive against the privileges that the Grand Duchy has been granting in recent years to the giant founded by Jeff Bezos. In October 2017, the EU authorities demanded that Luxembourg recover 250 million euros in taxes, plus the corresponding interest, which Amazon would not have paid since 2006. “This scheme allowed Amazon to exempt three quarters of its benefits from tax. If it had been a local company, it would have paid four times what Amazon “, came to ensure then the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager. In the last annual accounts of the holding, Amazon EU Sarl, the company says that although it has appealed the decision of the community authorities, it proceeded in March 2018 to deposit the amount claimed.
In 2018 there is also the circumstance that Amazon has recorded extraordinary income from its subsidiaries for an amount of 205.1 million. This was compared to just over 430,000 euros from the previous year.
Spanish branch of Amazon
The accounts of the Spanish branch of Amazon EU Sarl are not public, but the company also has four subsidiaries, for the management of the logistics business or marketing, which do present their financial statements to the Mercantile Registry.
Of these companies, the most important is Amazon Spain Fulfillment. Which in 2018 recorded a total turnover of 364.9 million euros, 60% for the provision of services precisely to the Luxembourg parent company. The figure is 73% more than a year before and gives an idea of the great development that the platform is experiencing in the country. The benefit also rose from 3.8 to 5.1 million euros. And even more significant was the growth of another of the conglomerate’s companies, Amazon Online Spain, which tripled its revenue volume to 55.3 million. In Spain, companies in the distribution sector have been demanding time to end the tax privileges of online operators, as is the case, among others, of Amazon.