Amazon announces tax deal with French government

PARIS-Agence France-Presse

U.S. online shopping giant Amazon on Feb. 5 announced it had settled a major tax claim in France and agreed to report all its French income locally in future.

Amazon, one of the U.S. tech giants accused of paying too little tax in Europe, said the deal related to a French claim for nearly 200 million euros ($249 million) covering the period from 2006 to 2010.     

It did not say how much it paid to end the dispute, saying only that it had reached an overall agreement with tax authorities and would now report all the turnover and profit from its French activities in France.

French tax authorities refused to comment on the settlement, saying it was a secret matter.Amazon is one of the digital economy giants that minimize their tax bill in Europe by routing their income through low-tax nations -- in Amazon’s case, Luxembourg.In 2012, it revealed that it had been hit with a 198-million-euro bill by France for back taxes, interests and penalties relating to income spread between different jurisdictions.At the time, the company had said it disagreed with the French assessment and vowed to “vigorously” fight it.