Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s tax haven-domiciled European division received a whopping €1 billion in tax credits from governments in the bloc last year.
This was a huge increase on the €56 billion Amazon EU Sarl got in tax breaks a year earlier, according to a filing of its accounts.
Included in the package of tax breaks was more than £1 million in tax credits from the UK government.
“Corporation tax is based on profits, not revenues, and last year, Amazon EU Sarl made a loss as we opened more than 50 new sites across Europe and created over 65,000 well-paid jobs, taking our total European permanent workforce to over 200,000,” Amazon said in a statement.
“Across Europe, we pay corporate tax amounting to hundreds of millions of euros. We operate this pan-European business from our headquarters in Luxembourg, where we have over 3,600 employees and growing, including our senior leadership team.”
Before the tax bonus, Amazon’s European division, which is registered in tax haven Luxembourg, posted a loss of €2.1 billion.
The company said it has invested more than €100bn in Europe since 2010, including over £11.4 billion in the UK market.
Its sales revenues in Europe rose 16% last year to €51bn.