Amazon.com moves away from tax-shifting in Europe

Amazon.com has begun paying tax on its retail sales in individual European countries, instead of funnelling all sales through low-tax Luxembourg, in a restructuring of its European business practices.

The move puts pressure on other American technology companies, such as Google and Apple, who face intense scrutiny of their corporate tax practices in Europe.

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Amazon has begun booking revenue by country in some of its biggest markets, including the U.K., Germany, Italy and Spain. The practice began on May 1 and will roll out across other European operations.

The move could significantly increase Amazon's tax bill in many EU countries. It did not acknowledge whether it was responding to pressure from regulators.

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"We regularly review our business structure to ensure that we are able to best serve our customers and provide additional product and services," a company spokesman told the Wall Street Journal.

EU probes

The EU began a probe into the retailer's tax practices earlier this year, with regulators saying they believed filing sales through Luxembourg was providing it with an unfair advantage over competitors.

It is also looking into the tax-shifting strategies used by companies such as Apple, Starbucks and Google.

Amazon's move puts pressure on these companies to reform their practices.

In Britain, finance minister George Osborne, has implemented a "Google tax" that would impose a 25 per cent levyon international companies that route money overseas.

And Ireland is phasing out its tax loophole that allowed companies incorporated in Ireland to make royalty payments for intellectual property to a separate Irish-registered subsidiary.

Companies such as Google use this structure to funnel all their European profits to Ireland's low-tax jurisdiction.

The Irish policy was phased out for new companies at the beginning of 2015, and will be stopped entirely by the end of the decade.