Amazon’s German unit criticised for tax bill

Amazon.com’s main German unit paid income tax of just €3m in 2012 after the group channelled sales to German clients of $8.7bn via Luxembourg units, prompting one lawmaker to call for an investigation of the company.

Accounts for Amazon.de GmbH filed with Germany’s companies register show that the company reported profit of just €10m for 2012, which was taxed at the headline German rate of 30%.

Germany is Amazon’s largest non-US market and represents a third of its overseas sales, but the vast bulk of that German cash ends up ultimately in Luxembourg-registered Amazon Europe Holding Technologies, which reported profits of €118m but, as a tax-exempt partnership, paid no income tax.