LRM deputy Mounir Mahjoubi calls for more transparency on the taxes of the e-commerce giant

“Amazon, you owe transparency to the French! “ : this is how Mounir Mahjoubi, LRM deputy from Paris and former secretary of state in charge of digital, calls out the e-commerce giant, in a note titled In Search of Amazon’s Hidden Profits », published on Friday April 23 and mentioned in “Additional investigation”, broadcast on France 2, Thursday 22. Concretely, the elected asks the American group to publish the turnover of its various branches, its profit and the tax on companies paid in France. In hollow, he accuses Amazon of practicing tax optimization, certainly legal, but with the effect of reducing its levies in France.

For its part, Amazon has been delivering data on its activity in France since 2019, in response to criticism. The company highlights a turnover of 5.7 billion euros in 2019 and a “Total tax contribution” of 420 million for the same financial year. Contacted on Friday April 23, Amazon France specifies that these are the “Last available items” and says he has no more to share.

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But, for Mr. Mahjoubi, these data lack details and even fall under the ” making fun of “, as he had declared in December 2020, during a parliamentary hearing of Frédéric Duval, general manager of Amazon in France. The former secretary of state recalls that Amazon is a winner of the crisis, with global revenues up 38% in 2020, to 386 billion dollars (321 billion euros).

“Complex structure”

In his note, Mr. Mahjoubi first underlines the “Complex structure” Amazon entities in France: some are subsidiary companies, for example for the logistics network of warehouses or for advertising activities. Others are only branches of companies established in Luxembourg, and they do not publish their accounts.

Above all, details the note from Mr. Mahjoubi, certain services are invoiced directly by Luxembourg companies: this is the case of commissions and logistics services paid by independent traders who sell on Amazon.fr. Or digital books, as well as certain Kindle or Amazon Music subscriptions (excluding Prime, which gives access to fast delivery and a range of services).

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The deputy suspects that the part of the turnover invoiced from Luxembourg is not taxed in France. It also asks the question for the hosting activity in the cloud (dematerialized computing), whose French branch is attached to its European parent company located in Luxembourg, Amazon Web Services EMEA.

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