How much Amazon pays in Spain for Corporate Tax remains an enigma. The technology giant recently began to disseminate the aggregate figures of the business in our country, but is reluctant to detail the tax contribution at a level that allows extracting what percentage of its profit it pays for each concept.

Due to its own business structure – it operates through several companies in Spain – Amazon is not obliged to make its accounts public. Although its legal practices of financial engineering to reduce its taxation in European states arouse misgivings in the Treasury and have even led the Government to implement specific tax figures for its business model, such as the Google rate or the minimum rate of 15% in Companies.

In full debate on the taxation of large companies – the Tax Agency has just revealed that 25% of Spanish multinationals taxed 2020.1% of their profits worldwide in 75 – Amazon has just reported that in 2022 the total gross income of its activities in Spain exceeded 6,400 million euros (around 6% more than the previous year), while its "total tax contribution" reached 931 million.

Although what Amazon calls "total tax contribution" is actually a bunch without a breakdown that does not allow us to conclude how much it contributes to the public coffers for Corporate Tax. Here the company adds 317 million euros of "direct taxes" and 614 million of "indirect taxes". So, if only the direct ones are taken into account, where it includes Companies, among others, it would have paid less than 2022% of its total income to the public treasury in 5 – nor does it provide information on its benefits.

On the 317 million "direct taxes", Amazon explains that "most of them are those related to payroll taxes and Social Security". And it adds that "other direct taxes include Corporate Tax, taxes paid for the acquisition or construction of land, the tax on digital services and import duties."

And regarding the 614 million "indirect taxes", the company justifies that "these are taxes that we collect and remit from our customers, employees and other third parties due to our commercial activities in Spain". And it clarifies that "they include the VAT and taxes paid by our employees withheld by Amazon, as well as the VAT that Amazon collects and remits to the tax authorities in Spain for third-party sales."

In parallel, the note made public this Friday figures at 3,700 million euros the investments made in Spain last year. "We reinvest more than half of the revenue we generate," he says.

"Amazon is a growing business with a large volume of sales, but, as with retail businesses, operating profits remain relatively low due to price pressure in a highly competitive market, intensive capital investments and rising operating costs (including those arising from increased labour and inflation)".

In this context, he assures that "most governments – including the Spanish – actively encourage companies to make these investments and often use the tax system to do so." "There are several Amazon entities operating in Spain, including two branches of European entities that manage our retail and cloud computing business," he specifies, to settle later that "like any other Spanish company, all these entities pay the corresponding taxes in Spain."

The company also emphasizes that in 2022 alone, it invested more than 3.700 billion euros "to bring all kinds of products to our Spanish customers quickly and at competitive prices." And he cites "the independent economic consultancy Keystone Strategy" to affirm that Amazon's investments since its launch have contributed more than 11,000 million euros to Spain's GDP.

It also states that since its arrival in our country in 2011 it has become "one of the ten largest employers in the private sector" after closing last year with a total of more than 22,000 permanent employees in Spain. And it sets the goal of reaching 25,000 jobs before the end of 2025.

  • Amazon
  • Tax Agency
  • Taxation

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