Chapter 312 Now I know your fate!
“Well said!”
“Director David said that the duty of the IRS is to collect taxes. Since Amazon is suspected of having tax problems, it must be investigated to the end. !”
“Yes, support Director David!”
On the Internet and in front of the TV, many of David’s supporters also applauded.
Yes, your Amazon influence is huge, but taxation is the foundation of a country. You can’t enjoy immunity just because you have great influence, right?
If everyone is like you, dumb Amazon, then why do you need the IRS?
This country’s finances are already in ruins!
"Okay, next question..."
David pointed his finger at the KCBS reporter this time.
Unlike others, who couldn't wait to ask questions when called upon, this reporter said unhurriedly: "Director David, there has been a rumor on the Internet that in recent years In recent years, Amazon has not paid taxes and has even received a lot of subsidies from the government. Is this true? "
"Yes, Amazon has indeed not paid any taxes in recent years. The IRS has paid taxes, and from 2005 to 2021, they obtained a total of US$1.347 billion in tax subsidies by manipulating the tax policies of various states!”
In fact, the reporter’s question was raised by Dai! Wei arranged it in advance.
Because he knows very well that if he wants to change public opinion and make Amazon become the public enemy of the people, the best way is to tell the whole world that this company is ruthless.
A company as big as yours has refused to pay any taxes for so many years. No matter how good the excuse is, it cannot be justified, right?
“My goodness, Amazon has really not paid any taxes in the past few years!”
“Fake, it’s okay to forget that it has not paid taxes, but it actually relies on exploiting state policies to obtain subsidies. This Amazon It's too much!"
"Director David must investigate them severely, and then give them a severe penalty and make them spit out the taxes they have owed for so many years, including the principal and interest! "
"..."
Sure enough, as soon as David's words came out, the Internet went crazy.
Although many people on the Internet have been saying that Amazon has not paid taxes in recent years, this news has not been officially confirmed, so some trolls who support Amazon can naturally go crazy.
But now that David from the IRS has come forward and admitted it himself, this cannot be false, so netizens are naturally very angry.
Even some people who originally supported Duma Mason began to think that Duma Mason did this a bit unfairly, and their stance on the side was wavered.
Lobby on the first floor of the Los Angeles IRS.
Most of the people at the scene were still immersed in the previous news and had not come back to their senses. Suddenly, a commotion came from behind and they had to turn their heads and look behind.
"That's...Amazon's legal department is here!"
Although Amazon's legal department is not like Disney, it has the title of the strongest legal department in the world.
But as a giant company with a market value of nearly 2 trillion, its legal department has not appeared in public many times, so many people recognized them at the scene.
Seeing the arrival of Amazon’s legal department, the Internet was once again abuzz.
Because now that Amazon’s legal department is here, it means that the confrontation with the IRS has officially begun!
In this battle between tax inspections and anti-tax inspections, who will win in the end?
This is naturally what many people on the Internet are looking forward to next.
David, who was in the spotlight, naturally saw the arrival of the Dumason Legal Department, and a smile appeared on his lips at this moment.
Compared with the executives of Amazon's Los Angeles branch, the members of the legal department from Amazon's headquarters must have mastered more secrets and black materials within the group.
As long as David conducts a good review of them, he will definitely get more useful information!
"Okay everyone, that's the end of today's press conference!"
The purpose of this press conference is to reduce the pressure of public opinion on the IRS, and now that this purpose has obviously been achieved, then David naturally No more nonsense.
After he got off the stage, he ordered Nissen: "Bring Amazon's legal department to my office."
"Understood."
Mr. David He returned to his office in one step, and three minutes after returning, five members of the Dumb Mason Legal Department, headed by Lakluwa, were brought in.
"Hello, Director David, my name is Lacroix, and I am the chief legal counsel of the Amazon Legal Department. This is my colleague Tomlinson, this is Wilbur, this is..."
After Lakluwa's introduction, David also extended his hand very kindly and shook hands with them one by one.
Lacroix opened the briefcase he was carrying, took out a thick stack of documents, placed it on the table, and then said: "Director David, since your IRS wants to target us If the group initiates a tax investigation, then we will naturally cooperate. These are the tax situations of all regions of our group in the past five years. You can take a closer look..."
David pretended to pick up the information, but Secretly, he set his sights on Lakluwa from time to time.
After some inspection, a slight smile began to appear on his face.
If you want to say which department in a group has the most internal dirty information, it is definitely the Ministry of Justice.
Because for a group, the legal department is responsible for wiping the butt and resolving troubles.
And now Amazon’s legal department is no exception.
Just by examining this Lakluwa, he discovered a lot of useful information.
For example, in 2017, the newly revised tax bill of the Internal Revenue Service added a new "deductible tax credit", which means that companies can build warehouses and R&D centers, and can use the built factories and equipment. Wait for the tax deduction.
As soon as this policy was promulgated, Amazon immediately built a large number of factories and purchased a large amount of equipment in various states across the country. This move allowed them to obtain generous returns, which was a 40% reduction in value. percent tax.
However, the policy of tax deduction for value reduction is also conditional.
For example, if you build a factory in Long Beach, Los Angeles, you must follow local policy requirements to promote local employment and economic conditions. But then again, no matter how big and profitable Amazon is, the United States is so big and there are many remote places. It is impossible for factories in every place to meet local targets.
And how does Amazon do it?
They are very cunning. Aren't the factories in some places not up to standard? Then they use accounting methods. For example, the indicator given by the government in Los Angeles is 100 million. As an international city, Los Angeles is normal for overflow. of.
If there is an overflow of 10 million to 20 million or more, they will transfer the overflow funds to factories like Philadelphia that do not meet the targets. In this way, even if the local government targets are met, This will enable you to obtain tax deduction requirements.
If David wants to make a fuss, it is very simple. He can send inspectors to factories across the country to conduct unannounced visits.
As mentioned before, tax deductions can be deducted through the construction of Guangjian warehouses, R&D centers, factories, equipment, etc.
Mason has so many factories, R&D centers, and warehouses across the country. There must be many equipment facilities, R&D centers, and warehouses in unprofitable factories that are not up to standard.
As long as he sends someone to find out and record it, he can use this as a reason to accuse Dumbton of tax fraud.
But having said that, although Amazon is very clever in playing tax deduction, this is not its most disgusting way to avoid tax. What is most disgusting is its use of ‘operating loss deduction’.
In the United States, operating loss credits are carried forward for up to fifteen years.
According to the information obtained from the group of people in Lakluwa, Dumason can be said to have applied this rule to the extreme.
For many years, they have not taken the initiative to make profits. Instead, they have used the money they earned to expand their business, invest in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, infrastructure, etc., and actively make losses.
In the 20 years since its founding in 1995, Amazon has lost billions of dollars. In the first eight years after it went public alone, it lost $3 billion.
The most recent loss was in 2014, when it lost $241 million.
According to data, Amazon still has $1.4 billion in federal tax credits on its books that can be used at will. This is disgusting.
As for how the dumb Amazon obtained government subsidies, David thought about it and felt that there was something to be done.
If you want to get government subsidies, you have to meet some indicators of each state. Regarding these indicators, Amazon seems to have adopted the previous method of tax deduction. He has to send someone to check them carefully. Okay, because he believes that Amazon must have violated regulations on this point.
In the following time, David shifted his attention from Lakluwa to the remaining four members of the Dumb Mason Legal Department.
As he examined these people in depth, his eyes gradually became brighter, because he seemed to combine a very important message from these people.
In the past 20 years, Amazon’s business has been operating under a very strange premise, but few people have questioned it.
On the surface, Amazon is the lowest-priced option in the e-commerce market. At the same time, it provides "free shipping" services to more than 100 million Amazon members, but it requires an annual membership fee of US$139. fee, but this membership fee is obviously far from covering the costs of its logistics department.
Let’s just say that in 2021, Amazon’s logistics costs will reach 85 billion US dollars.
In terms of actual value, each Amazon customer must reach at least US$1,000 in membership fees to be able to maintain capital.
But Amazon’s free shipping membership fee is only $139 per year, which means Amazon has to subsidize tens of billions of dollars. So where does this money come from?
In other words, how can Amazon keep costs lowest and deliver free while still making money?
In fact, Amazon has implemented a series of clever plans to incorporate the cost into the product price and become a "hidden tax", which means that "consumers" are paying for free shipping.
But consumers don’t know this, and Amazon doesn’t want them to know either. Of course, they don’t want the IRS to know either.
Because if the IRS knows that Amazon is charging hidden taxes from users, and they have no reasonable explanation, they can be charged with tax evasion.
But that’s not the most important thing.
The most important thing is that Amazon’s strategy is to use Prime to establish, expand and strengthen barriers to entry. One of the results is that Amazon now has an overwhelming monopoly share of online shoppers.
Once it gains monopoly power, Amazon will lower prices by charging third-party sellers fees. As a third-party seller, you have to pay for listing on Amazon and use Amazon’s warehousing services. That is, Amazon delivery services and advertising services.
If you don't pay, you can't get to the website location where consumers click.
Therefore, online shoppers may not be real “customers” but “products” provided by Amazon to third-party sellers.
As for third-party sellers, they must pay their requirements and related fees to Amazon, otherwise they will lose market access.
Currently, the total amount of fees Amazon collects from third-party sellers has grown to nearly 50% of its revenue, and Amazon also uses this funds (totaling an estimated $123 billion last year) to pay All services bundled with Prime include "free" shipping, video services, music services, Twitch, etc.
These third-party sellers in turn raise prices to consumers, and then remit the money back to Amazon in the form of fees. Strictly speaking, this is not only suspected of tax evasion, but can even be classified as serious. For money laundering.
“Dumb Mason, dumb Mason, you will feel better now!”
Through the examination of the people in the Legal Department of Dumasun, David can now be said to know the fate of this group, and all he needs to do is get practical evidence!
"What's wrong, Director David?"
Looking at David's evil smile, Lackroy also asked in confusion.
David put down the document in his hand and replied: "Nothing, I have already read the document. On the surface, there is indeed no big problem, but we still need to investigate the details."
Laclois and others looked at each other, and then the member of the legal department named Wilbur said insinuatingly: "Director David, all the tax data of our group in the past few years is already here. There should be nothing to investigate. Do you still have any questions? ”
"Yes, Director David, if you still have any questions, just ask them directly. We will answer them directly on the spot. There is no need to trouble the IRS's manpower and material resources."
Another member He also opened his mouth and followed suit.
"Whether there is a problem or not is not up to you, but to me. Go back and I will inform you of the results at any time!"
"This... ok Let’s go.”
What else could the five of them say? After looking at each other, they all stood up and walked out of the office.
(End of this chapter)