Some media outlets have wrongly conflated what Amazon pays in corporate tax in an entity in Luxembourg with what Amazon pays Europe-wide.
We pay corporate tax in countries across Europe amounting to hundreds of millions of euros, and we operate in full compliance with local tax laws everywhere.
Recent coverage has focused on a specific entity in Luxembourg called Amazon EU Sarl, but this does not take into account the local tax contributions made by other Amazon companies in countries right across Europe.
In 2015, Amazon EU Sarl established branches in the UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy. We report directly to the local tax authorities in these countries the retail revenues on sales made to customers through these branches, and the associated expenses and taxes. More recently, we have introduced similar branches for the Netherlands, Sweden and now Poland that coincide with the opening of our stores there. 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.
Corporate tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits have remained low given our continued investments across Europe. We’ve invested well over €100 billion since 2010, and much of that investment is in infrastructure and research that creates many thousands of new jobs, generates significant local tax revenue, and supports small European firms with programs like Fulfillment by Amazon.
Last year, we opened more than 50 new sites across Europe and created over 65,000 jobs, taking our total footprint to over 70 fulfillment centers, 100 corporate offices and development centers, and 200,000 full-time employees across Europe. Many of these employees are based at our operations sites where we offer a variety of roles, from robotics engineers and finance managers through to employees picking and packing orders from our customers. These are some of the most advanced workplaces of their kind in the world and the people who work there receive excellent pay and a comprehensive benefits package from day one, including a retirement savings plan and healthcare, medical and life insurance.
And there are over 185,000 European-based selling partners using our services to reach new customers and grow their businesses. We invest heavily in our selling partners: in Europe last year we spent over €2.8 billion on logistics, tools, services, programs, and people to open up new opportunities and support the success of these businesses. In fact, small businesses account for more than half of all products offered on our stores. These firms generate tens of billions of Euros in revenues annually. We estimate that more than 550,000 people are currently employed across our EU and UK third-party seller network as a direct consequence of their relationships with Amazon.
