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On 11 June 2024, Ethical Consumer viewed records for Amazon.com Inc, looking for indications that it might be using tax havens for tax avoidance purposes. Its 2023 SEC 10-K filing and the D&B Hoovers corporate database was viewed.

Ethical Consumer was looking for the company to satisfy the following criteria:
1. That it had no subsidiaries on our list of tax havens, or had the Fair Tax Mark accreditation;
2. That it had not been subject to credible secondary criticism for tax avoidance.

If it did have subsidiaries in tax havens but did not have the Fair Tax Mark, we were looking for evidence that these were clearly not for purposes of tax avoidance. Such evidence might include:
1. a clear public tax statement confirming that it is company policy not to engage in tax avoidance activity and a narrative explanation for what each subsidiary located in a tax haven is for, and how it was not being used for purposes of tax minimisation
2. Public country by country reporting of sales made and tax paid in each jurisdiction that does not show likely avoidance activities.

The company was incorporated in Delaware, considered a tax haven by Ethical Consumer at the time of writing, despite having its main headquarters in a different state (Washington). The company also had multiple subsidiaries in jurisdictions considered by Ethical Consumer to be tax havens at the time of writing.

Multiple of these were holding companies, which was considered a high-risk company type for likely use of tax avoidance, including:
Amazon Eurasia Holdings S.à.r.l. in Luxembourg
Amazon NL International Holdings B.V. in the Netherlands

Two or more reputable third party criticisms for tax avoidance were found. These included an article by The New York Times dated May 2021 with the title, “Amazon Had a Big Year, but Paid No Tax to Luxembourg”. It stated that Amazon paid no corporate tax to Luxembourg, where the company has its European headquarters.

The company was also criticised in an article by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy dated February 2022 with the title, “Amazon Avoids More Than $5 Billion in Corporate Income Taxes, Reports 6 Percent Tax Rate on $35 Billion of US Income”. It stated that despite record profits of more than $35 billion in 2021 (75 percent higher than its 2020 record), it only paid 6 percent in federal corporate income taxes, avoiding paying over 5 billion dollars.

Overall, Amazon.com Inc received 0/100 for Tax Conduct.