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Did Amazon pay $0 in taxes last year?

Do rich companies pay little/no corporate income taxes in the United States?Do US companies pay significantly less taxes than European ones (based on tax rates)?Are value-added taxes naturally progressive?If you raise taxes, will the rich leave the country?Did Warren Buffett pay a lower rate of income tax than his secretary?Does the USA have the highest taxes?Does Shell get $2 billion a year in subsidies from the US government?2 % of 'the rich' pay 50 % of taxes in GermanyDo rich Americans pay a lower portion of their income in federal taxes than the middle class?Are US workers legally required to pay income taxes?

3

Background

I saw this article saying that Amazon paid $0 in corporate income tax last year. Is this true or just phrased to sound like they are getting away with paying nothing?

Here's the article: https://www.vox.com/2019/2/20/18231742/amazon-federal-taxes-zero-corporate-income

Claims from article

Chart:Confused on why they say "Federal Tax" in the graph, but corporate income tax throughout the article

Quote:

Yet during this surge into profitability — the company’s earnings doubled between 2017 and 2018 — Amazon’s tax bill has actually gone down. The company paid $0 in corporate income tax last year, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, an astonishing figure that generated dozens of news stories last week.

united-states economics law taxes business

share|improve this question

asked 4 hours ago

Noah CristinoNoah Cristino

1162

New contributor

Noah Cristino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Is the graph saying that the company paid negative tax in 2017 and 2018?
  
  – Andrew Grimm
  3 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @AndrewGrimm yeah I saw in another article "To top it off, Amazon actually reported a $129 million 2018 federal income tax rebate—making its tax rate -1%."(fortune.com/2019/02/14/amazon-doesnt-pay-federal-taxes-2019)
  
  – Noah Cristino
  3 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

3

Background

I saw this article saying that Amazon paid $0 in corporate income tax last year. Is this true or just phrased to sound like they are getting away with paying nothing?

Here's the article: https://www.vox.com/2019/2/20/18231742/amazon-federal-taxes-zero-corporate-income

Claims from article

Chart:Confused on why they say "Federal Tax" in the graph, but corporate income tax throughout the article

Quote:

Yet during this surge into profitability — the company’s earnings doubled between 2017 and 2018 — Amazon’s tax bill has actually gone down. The company paid $0 in corporate income tax last year, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, an astonishing figure that generated dozens of news stories last week.

united-states economics law taxes business

share|improve this question

asked 4 hours ago

Noah CristinoNoah Cristino

1162

New contributor

Noah Cristino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Is the graph saying that the company paid negative tax in 2017 and 2018?
  
  – Andrew Grimm
  3 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @AndrewGrimm yeah I saw in another article "To top it off, Amazon actually reported a $129 million 2018 federal income tax rebate—making its tax rate -1%."(fortune.com/2019/02/14/amazon-doesnt-pay-federal-taxes-2019)
  
  – Noah Cristino
  3 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

Background

I saw this article saying that Amazon paid $0 in corporate income tax last year. Is this true or just phrased to sound like they are getting away with paying nothing?

Here's the article: https://www.vox.com/2019/2/20/18231742/amazon-federal-taxes-zero-corporate-income

Claims from article

Chart:Confused on why they say "Federal Tax" in the graph, but corporate income tax throughout the article

Quote:

Yet during this surge into profitability — the company’s earnings doubled between 2017 and 2018 — Amazon’s tax bill has actually gone down. The company paid $0 in corporate income tax last year, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, an astonishing figure that generated dozens of news stories last week.

united-states economics law taxes business

share|improve this question

asked 4 hours ago

Noah CristinoNoah Cristino

1162

New contributor

Noah Cristino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

asked 4 hours ago

Noah CristinoNoah Cristino

1162

New contributor

Noah Cristino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

asked 4 hours ago

Noah CristinoNoah Cristino

1162

New contributor

Noah Cristino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 4 hours ago

Noah CristinoNoah Cristino

1162

New contributor

Noah Cristino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 4 hours ago

Noah CristinoNoah Cristino

1162

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

3

When Bernie Sanders claimed Amazon didn't pay federal income taxes in 2017, Snopes wrote a helpful article:

In regards to U.S. federal income taxes, the claim that Amazon paid none in 2017 is almost certainly factual. While Amazon’s tax filings are not public, their SEC filing for the year 2017 illustrates that the company used the tax code expertly (and legally) to their advantage, so well that the company anticipated a $137 million tax refund from the federal government (numbers are in millions of dollars):

Amazon did pay taxes to individual U.S. states ($211 million) and to international jurisdictions ($724 million), but their federal income tax burden was (less than) zero. The filings indicate that two factors provided the lion share of Amazon’s reduced federal tax liability: $220 million worth of tax credits, and $917 million in tax-deductible executive pay derived from the sale of stocks

(Politifact also wrote about this, coming to the same conclusion: it's likely true.)

The form they're referring to is the 10-K. Looking at the 2018 filing, it has the same sections, so the same explanation applies. Under "Current Taxes: U.S. Federal" for 2018 it says "$(129)" (parenthesis indicate a negative number and this number is still in millions). In other words, much like last year, they expected to get a federal net tax refund, which is why the line in the graph is negative for those years.

Again, this is referring to federal income taxes. There's no evidence that they didn't pay other types of taxes; as you can see in the charts, the columns for "U.S. State" and "International" taxes all show positive numbers.

share|improve this answer

edited 35 mins ago

answered 2 hours ago

LaurelLaurel

11.3k54958

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Great answer. However, since "There's no evidence that they didn't pay other types of taxes" and that common people seemingly don't segment taxes like business do in their minds, a brief list of any of the taxes Amazon did or might have pay to the federal government might be in order. Their undoubted contribution to social security is certainly one I can think of.
  
  – fredsbend
  1 hour ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It's acceptable for me to focus on "federal", but the Q goes for a more general "taxes". Don't want to echo the previous comment, but at least cite how you arrive at "no evidence" for 'other taxes'?
  
  – LangLangC
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Minor quibble: Getting a tax refund and paying negative taxes are not the same thing. You can get a tax refund while paying extremely positive taxes, for example. A tax refund just means that your withholding (or quarterly estimated payments, as the case may be) exceeded your actual tax liability for the year. That could happen even if your tax liability is quite large.
  
  – reirab
  40 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

3

When Bernie Sanders claimed Amazon didn't pay federal income taxes in 2017, Snopes wrote a helpful article:

In regards to U.S. federal income taxes, the claim that Amazon paid none in 2017 is almost certainly factual. While Amazon’s tax filings are not public, their SEC filing for the year 2017 illustrates that the company used the tax code expertly (and legally) to their advantage, so well that the company anticipated a $137 million tax refund from the federal government (numbers are in millions of dollars):

Amazon did pay taxes to individual U.S. states ($211 million) and to international jurisdictions ($724 million), but their federal income tax burden was (less than) zero. The filings indicate that two factors provided the lion share of Amazon’s reduced federal tax liability: $220 million worth of tax credits, and $917 million in tax-deductible executive pay derived from the sale of stocks

(Politifact also wrote about this, coming to the same conclusion: it's likely true.)

The form they're referring to is the 10-K. Looking at the 2018 filing, it has the same sections, so the same explanation applies. Under "Current Taxes: U.S. Federal" for 2018 it says "$(129)" (parenthesis indicate a negative number and this number is still in millions). In other words, much like last year, they expected to get a federal net tax refund, which is why the line in the graph is negative for those years.

Again, this is referring to federal income taxes. There's no evidence that they didn't pay other types of taxes; as you can see in the charts, the columns for "U.S. State" and "International" taxes all show positive numbers.

share|improve this answer

edited 35 mins ago

answered 2 hours ago

LaurelLaurel

11.3k54958

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Great answer. However, since "There's no evidence that they didn't pay other types of taxes" and that common people seemingly don't segment taxes like business do in their minds, a brief list of any of the taxes Amazon did or might have pay to the federal government might be in order. Their undoubted contribution to social security is certainly one I can think of.
  
  – fredsbend
  1 hour ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It's acceptable for me to focus on "federal", but the Q goes for a more general "taxes". Don't want to echo the previous comment, but at least cite how you arrive at "no evidence" for 'other taxes'?
  
  – LangLangC
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Minor quibble: Getting a tax refund and paying negative taxes are not the same thing. You can get a tax refund while paying extremely positive taxes, for example. A tax refund just means that your withholding (or quarterly estimated payments, as the case may be) exceeded your actual tax liability for the year. That could happen even if your tax liability is quite large.
  
  – reirab
  40 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

3

When Bernie Sanders claimed Amazon didn't pay federal income taxes in 2017, Snopes wrote a helpful article:

In regards to U.S. federal income taxes, the claim that Amazon paid none in 2017 is almost certainly factual. While Amazon’s tax filings are not public, their SEC filing for the year 2017 illustrates that the company used the tax code expertly (and legally) to their advantage, so well that the company anticipated a $137 million tax refund from the federal government (numbers are in millions of dollars):

Amazon did pay taxes to individual U.S. states ($211 million) and to international jurisdictions ($724 million), but their federal income tax burden was (less than) zero. The filings indicate that two factors provided the lion share of Amazon’s reduced federal tax liability: $220 million worth of tax credits, and $917 million in tax-deductible executive pay derived from the sale of stocks

(Politifact also wrote about this, coming to the same conclusion: it's likely true.)

The form they're referring to is the 10-K. Looking at the 2018 filing, it has the same sections, so the same explanation applies. Under "Current Taxes: U.S. Federal" for 2018 it says "$(129)" (parenthesis indicate a negative number and this number is still in millions). In other words, much like last year, they expected to get a federal net tax refund, which is why the line in the graph is negative for those years.

Again, this is referring to federal income taxes. There's no evidence that they didn't pay other types of taxes; as you can see in the charts, the columns for "U.S. State" and "International" taxes all show positive numbers.

share|improve this answer

edited 35 mins ago

answered 2 hours ago

LaurelLaurel

11.3k54958

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Great answer. However, since "There's no evidence that they didn't pay other types of taxes" and that common people seemingly don't segment taxes like business do in their minds, a brief list of any of the taxes Amazon did or might have pay to the federal government might be in order. Their undoubted contribution to social security is certainly one I can think of.
  
  – fredsbend
  1 hour ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  It's acceptable for me to focus on "federal", but the Q goes for a more general "taxes". Don't want to echo the previous comment, but at least cite how you arrive at "no evidence" for 'other taxes'?
  
  – LangLangC
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Minor quibble: Getting a tax refund and paying negative taxes are not the same thing. You can get a tax refund while paying extremely positive taxes, for example. A tax refund just means that your withholding (or quarterly estimated payments, as the case may be) exceeded your actual tax liability for the year. That could happen even if your tax liability is quite large.
  
  – reirab
  40 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

When Bernie Sanders claimed Amazon didn't pay federal income taxes in 2017, Snopes wrote a helpful article:

In regards to U.S. federal income taxes, the claim that Amazon paid none in 2017 is almost certainly factual. While Amazon’s tax filings are not public, their SEC filing for the year 2017 illustrates that the company used the tax code expertly (and legally) to their advantage, so well that the company anticipated a $137 million tax refund from the federal government (numbers are in millions of dollars):

Amazon did pay taxes to individual U.S. states ($211 million) and to international jurisdictions ($724 million), but their federal income tax burden was (less than) zero. The filings indicate that two factors provided the lion share of Amazon’s reduced federal tax liability: $220 million worth of tax credits, and $917 million in tax-deductible executive pay derived from the sale of stocks

(Politifact also wrote about this, coming to the same conclusion: it's likely true.)

The form they're referring to is the 10-K. Looking at the 2018 filing, it has the same sections, so the same explanation applies. Under "Current Taxes: U.S. Federal" for 2018 it says "$(129)" (parenthesis indicate a negative number and this number is still in millions). In other words, much like last year, they expected to get a federal net tax refund, which is why the line in the graph is negative for those years.

Again, this is referring to federal income taxes. There's no evidence that they didn't pay other types of taxes; as you can see in the charts, the columns for "U.S. State" and "International" taxes all show positive numbers.

share|improve this answer

edited 35 mins ago

answered 2 hours ago

LaurelLaurel

11.3k54958

share|improve this answer

edited 35 mins ago

answered 2 hours ago

LaurelLaurel

11.3k54958

answered 2 hours ago

LaurelLaurel

11.3k54958

answered 2 hours ago

LaurelLaurel

11.3k54958