Amazon's UK Tax Bill Just $2.2 Million Despite Surging Profits

Amazon is facing criticism after its British tax bill fell to a mere 1.7 million pounds ($2.2 million) despite a big jump in sales and profits.

Amazon is one of a group of multinationals that the EU has accused of arranging unusually advantageous tax deals with the EU country they are based in.

Records show Amazon U.K. Services Ltd. faced a 2017 tax bill of 4.6 million pounds ($6 million) but paid the lower sum, deferring the rest.

Its pre-tax profits for the period were 72.4 million pounds, almost triple the previous year’s 24.3 million pounds. Revenue rose to 1.99 billion pounds, from 1.46 billion pounds.

The low tax bill is due partly to the way the European Union works, where multinationals have their tax base in one country, often with a very-low tax regime. Earnings from around the bloc are registered in that country — a system called profit-shifting — which means that companies like Amazon end up paying very little tax in many countries where they have significant operations.

The company is one of a group of multinationals that the EU has accused of arranging unusually advantageous tax deals with the EU country they are based in.

In Amazon’s case, that is tiny Luxembourg. The EU ruled in October last year that Luxembourg gave illegal tax benefits to the company worth around 250 million euros. Amazon paid four times less tax than local companies, it said.

The EU estimates that governments lose 50-70 billion euros ($58-81 billion) a year in tax revenue due to multinationals’ ability to report the bulk of their earnings in one EU state.

Meanwhile, brick-and-mortar retailers say they struggle to compete with online giants that use such loopholes to lower their bill.

Amazon said Friday that it pays “all taxes required in the U.K. and every country where we operate.” The decrease in its tax payment was partly due to shares payments to staff, which were counted as a cost and deducted from profits.

Amazon UK Services employs about 20,000 people and operates the facilities which store, process and post products to customers in Britain.