Amazon pays £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
Online retail giant Amazon has defended its European tax payment of £15m ($19.4m) in 2016, despite posting revenues of £19.5bn, blaming its slim profit margins for the discrepancy. In the same year in the UK, Amazon paid £7.4m in tax on year-on-year revenues of £15.8m. The payments have sparked another debate over whether large multinational corporations are bending the rules surrounding tax avoidance. Last year, a judge ruled Amazon's use of a tax haven in Luxembourg was legal, saving the company $1.5bn.

Amazon has defended its tax payments after publishing figures showing that it spent just £15m in tax across the entire European continent in 2016, despite posting revenues of £19.5bn.

Amazon defends paying a mere £15m in tax across Europe on revenues of £19.5bn

In the UK meanwhile Amazon succeeded in halving its HMRC tax bill to just £7.4m from £15.8m on a year-on-year basis in 2016, defying a rise in turnover which increased from £946m to £1.46bn.