[Canada] Amazon discloses taxes for the first time

Amazon.com Inc. has revealed the total direct taxes the global tech giant incurred in Canada for the very first time, The Globe and Mail reports.

On May 18, the online retail giant disclosed that it spent $431 million in payroll and corporate taxes in 2021.

Amazon has historically disclosed its tax payments for only a handful of countries, tending to abide by the disclosure rules of a given jurisdiction. Canada does not traditionally require public disclosures, however, Amazon’s tax strategies have attracted attention, as the company sought out tax and cost incentives from different jurisdictions in its search for the best places to set up shop.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has reportedly been pushing for the world’s biggest companies to more fairly distribute their corporate tax income to jurisdictions where they operate, in recent years. In 2022, a Globe and Mail investigation found that Amazon had for years been structuring its Canadian retail business in such a way that certain profits could be booked in the US.

That strategy required many senior retail employees to conduct minimal business in Canada, limit the amount of their time spent north of the border and sign any documents back in America. Last year Amazon told The Globe that it no longer employed the exact strategy its reporters had found in an internal playbook. It did not, however, clarify how its approach to profit and taxation in its retail division had changed.

The figures the company shared in a May 18 blog post do not directly address how much corporate tax Amazon pays for its Canadian retail operations, which were the subject of The Globe investigation. The $431-million figure includes employer contributions to employment insurance, Canada Pension Plan payments, provincial health funds and workers’ compensation costs for its 40,000-plus employees in the country. These employer contributions, Amazon said, accounted for the “largest proportion” of the total direct taxes it incurred.

Amazon said in a blog post that a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 69 Business Council of Canada members found that the company’s 2020 tax payments in Canada “ranked in the top 20 of the survey respondents for taxes borne and top 15 for taxes collected.” The survey that Amazon linked to reportedly failed to disclose the respondents’ names, Amazon’s included.

Source: The Globe and Mail

(Links and quote via original reporting)

Amazon.com Inc. has revealed the total direct taxes the global tech giant incurred in Canada for the very first time, The Globe and Mail reports.

On May 18, the online retail giant disclosed that it spent $431 million in payroll and corporate taxes in 2021.

Amazon has historically disclosed its tax payments for only a handful of countries, tending to abide by the disclosure rules of a given jurisdiction. Canada does not traditionally require public disclosures, however, Amazon’s tax strategies have attracted attention, as the company sought out tax and cost incentives from different jurisdictions in its search for the best places to set up shop.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has reportedly been pushing for the world’s biggest companies to more fairly distribute their corporate tax income to jurisdictions where they operate, in recent years. In 2022, a Globe and Mail investigation found that Amazon had for years been structuring its Canadian retail business in such a way that certain profits could be booked in the US.

That strategy required many senior retail employees to conduct minimal business in Canada, limit the amount of their time spent north of the border and sign any documents back in America. Last year Amazon told The Globe that it no longer employed the exact strategy its reporters had found in an internal playbook. It did not, however, clarify how its approach to profit and taxation in its retail division had changed.

The figures the company shared in a May 18 blog post do not directly address how much corporate tax Amazon pays for its Canadian retail operations, which were the subject of The Globe investigation. The $431-million figure includes employer contributions to employment insurance, Canada Pension Plan payments, provincial health funds and workers’ compensation costs for its 40,000-plus employees in the country. These employer contributions, Amazon said, accounted for the “largest proportion” of the total direct taxes it incurred.

Amazon said in a blog post that a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 69 Business Council of Canada members found that the company’s 2020 tax payments in Canada “ranked in the top 20 of the survey respondents for taxes borne and top 15 for taxes collected.” The survey that Amazon linked to reportedly failed to disclose the respondents’ names, Amazon’s included.

Source: The Globe and Mail

(Links and quote via original reporting)