FINANCIALS, BUSINESS NEWS
In 2005, Amazon rented a historic five-storey building in Luxembourg's Grund quarter, right at the bottom of a steep rock-walled valley below the old town.
By setting up in Luxembourg, and channeling sales through its units there, the world's biggest online retailer could minimize corporate taxes.
It was a move with big financial consequences. Amazon's Luxembourg arrangements have deprived European governments of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax that it might otherwise have owed, as reported in European newspapers.
But a Reuters examination of accounts filed by 25 Amazon units in six countries shows how they also allowed the company to avoid paying more tax in the United States, where the company is based.
In effect, Amazon used inter-company payments to form a tax shield for the group, behind which it has accumulated $2 billion to help finance its expansion.
Amazon revealed last year that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wants $1.5 billion in back taxes. The claim, which Amazon said it would "vigorously contest", is linked to its foreign subsidiaries and payments made between them.
The issue highlights the way multinationals reduce their taxes by parking intellectual property in tax havens and charging affiliates big fees for using it. Politicians in rich countries are beginning to target such practices, which have been used by other multinationals including Google and Microsoft.
U.S. Senator Carl Levin has called the tactics "gimmickry." Michael McIntyre, a tax expert at Wayne State University in Michigan, said that while
The IRS declined to comment.