Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Feb 26, 2026

Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and Microsoft accused of avoiding over $100 billion in taxes over the last decade

Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and Microsoft accused of avoiding over $100 billion in taxes over the last decade

Six of Silicon Valley's biggest companies had a combined "tax gap" of more than $100 billion this decade, according to a new analysis.
Fair Tax Mark, a British organization that certifies businesses for good tax conduct, assessed global tax payments from Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and Microsoft between 2010 and 2019. The companies are sometimes collectively referred to as the “Silicon Six.”

The research, published Monday, analyzed their 10-K filings, which are financial forms submitted by businesses to the U.S. government.

It looked at tax provisions -the amount companies set aside in their financial reports to pay taxes -and compared those to the amounts that were actually handed over to the government, referred to as cash taxes. Over the decade, the gap between the Silicon Six’s provisions and the taxes they actually paid reached $100.2 billion, researchers found.

The report noted that scrutiny of big corporations’ tax payments often focused solely on tax provisions, which was not always the final amount received by governments. It also claimed that profits continued to be “shifted to tax havens, especially Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.”

Researchers said the bulk of the shortfall “almost certainly arose outside the United States,” with foreign tax charges amounting to just 8.4% of the profit the companies made overseas during the decade.

Speaking to CNBC via telephone on Monday, Paul Monaghan, CEO of Fair Tax Mark, said there was an enormous difference between what companies accounted for and what they actually handed over in taxes.

“The amount of tax being paid by these businesses is $100 billion less than reported in their accounts,” he said.

Amazon was named the worst offender of the six firms, with the report claiming the e-commerce giant had paid $3.4 billion in income taxes since 2010. Fair Tax Mark noted that cash tax paid by the organization amounted to 12.7% of its profit over the decade, despite corporate tax in the U.S. being set at 35% for seven of the years included in the analysis period. President Donald Trump cut corporation tax rates from 35% to 21% in 2017.

“The company is growing its market domination across the globe on the back of revenues that are largely untaxed and can unfairly undercut local businesses that take a more responsible approach,” the report said.

Amazon finished 2018 with $232.9 billion in annual revenue and the company has a market capitalization of around $892 billion.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Amazon told CNBC that the suggestions made in Fair Tax Mark’s report were wrong.

“Amazon represents about 1% of global retail, with larger competitors everywhere we operate, and had a 24% effective tax rate on profits from 2010-2018,” the company said.

“Amazon is primarily a retailer where profit margins are low, so comparisons to technology companies with operating profit margins of closer to 50% is not rational. Governments write the tax laws and Amazon is doing the very thing they encourage companies to do -paying all taxes due while also investing many billions in creating jobs and infrastructure. Coupled with low margins, this investment will naturally result in a lower cash tax rate.”

The spokesperson added that Amazon had invested 55 billion euros ($60 billion) across Europe since 2010 and £18 billion in the U.K., and had paid £793 million in taxes to the U.K. alone last year.

Facebook had the second biggest tax gap, according to the report. The cash tax it paid represented just 10.2% of the profit the company made over the decade, researchers said -the lowest proportion paid by any of the Silicon Six. Its foreign tax charge was also the lowest of the six, Fair Tax Mark noted, at 5% of foreign profits.

A spokesperson for Facebook told CNBC in an emailed statement that the company takes its tax obligations seriously, paying what it owes in every market the firm operates.

“In 2018 we paid $3.8 billion in corporation tax globally and our effective tax rate over the last five years is more than 20%,” they said. “Under current rules we pay the vast majority of the tax we owe in the U.S. as that is where the bulk of our functions, assets and risks are located. Ultimately these are decisions for governments and we support the OECD process which is looking at new international tax rules for the digital economy.”

Google was ranked third, with the report claiming its taxes amounted to 15.8% of profits, while its foreign tax charge was 7.1% for the decade.

Netflix, ranked fourth, handed 15.8% of its profit over, while Apple, in fifth, had a tax rate of 17.1% over the decade, according to the study.

“As the largest taxpayer in the world, we know the important role tax payments play in society,” a spokesperson for Apple told CNBC in an email. “We pay all that we owe according to tax laws and local customs wherever we operate, and since 2008 Apple’s corporate taxes alone have totaled over $100 billion.”

Microsoft, which paid the highest rate of tax, had a cash tax rate of 16.8%, the research showed.

“Microsoft is fully compliant with all local laws and regulations in every country in which we operate,” a spokesperson told CNBC via email. “We serve customers in countries all over the world and our tax structure reflects that global footprint.”

Netflix declined to comment on the study’s findings. A spokesperson for Google was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
PM Netanyahu welcome India PM Narendra Modi to Israel
Shadow Diplomacy: How Harry and Meghan’s Jordan Trip Undermines the Monarchy
Britain’s Channel Crisis: Paying Billions While the Boats Keep Coming
Downing Street’s Veteran Deception Scandal
UK HealthCare Expands ‘Food as Health’ Initiative Statewide to Tackle Chronic Illness in Kentucky
Leonardo Chief Says UK Set to Decide on New Medium Helicopter Programme
UK Slows Chagos Islands Agreement After Concerns Raised in Washington
European and UK Stock Markets Reach Fresh Highs as Banks and Miners Lead Rally
UK Government Insists Chagos Islands Negotiations Continue After Minister’s ‘Pause’ Remark
No Confirmed Deal for Engie to Acquire UK Power Networks Amid Market Speculation
UK Reaffirms Updated Entry Requirements for Travellers as of February 25, 2026
Lord Mandelson Condemns Arrest as Driven by ‘Baseless Suggestion’ He Would Flee Abroad
Former UK Ambassador Released on Bail Following Arrest in Epstein-Linked Investigation
UK Parliament Orders Release of Former Prince Andrew’s Government Vetting Files
Reddit Fined £14 Million by UK Regulator Over Failures in Age Verification Controls
UK Moves to Tighten Regulation of Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video Under New Media Rules
British Woman Who Reported Rape in Hong Kong Faces Possible Prosecution
UK Sanctions New Zealand Insurer Maritime Mutual Following Allegations Over Russian Oil Cover
Reform MP Danny Kruger Condemns UK’s ‘Unregulated Sexual Economy’ in Call for Tougher Controls
UK Sanctions Russian ‘Illicit Oil Traders’ After Email Blunder Exposes Sanctions Evasion Network
Russia Amplifies Baseless Claims That UK and France Plan to Arm Ukraine with Nuclear Weapons
UK Imposes Sanctions on Two Georgian Television Channels Over Alleged Russian Disinformation
United States National Parks See Noticeable Drop in Visitors from Canada, U.K. and Australia
UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand Escalate Sanctions on Russia as Ukraine War Marks Four Years
UK Economy Faces Acute Strain as Trump’s Global Tariff Reshapes Trade Landscape
UK Signals Retaliation Is Possible as New US Tariff Policy Threatens Trade Stability
British Police Arrest Former Ambassador Peter Mandelson in Epstein-Related Misconduct Probe
Australia Officially Supports Proposal to Remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from Royal Succession
Diverging Polls Show Mixed Signals on UK Economic Revival as Confidence Remains Fragile
Spotify Expands AI-Driven ‘Prompted Playlists’ Feature to the United Kingdom and Other Markets
Greens and Reform UK Surge in Manchester By-Election, Threatening Labour’s Historic Stronghold
UK Businesses Push for Closer European Trade Links Amid Renewed US Tariff Uncertainty
Deloitte Global Overhaul Sparks Leadership Contest in the United Kingdom
University of Kentucky and Microsoft to Showcase Campus-Wide AI Innovation
UK Food System Faces Acute Vulnerability to Shocks, Experts Warn
Reform UK’s Proposed ICE-Style Deportation Scheme Triggers Sharp Backlash
U.S. Global Tariff Push Leaves Britain, Australia and Others Facing Higher Costs and Trade Strain
UK Police Officers Guarded 2010 Epstein Dinner Attended by Prince Andrew, Reports Say
US Trade Representative Affirms Commitment to Existing Tariff Agreements with UK and Other Partners
Activists at the Louvre hung a framed Reuters photograph of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor slumped in the back of a car leaving a police station on the day of his arrest
Metropolitan Police Deploys Palantir-Powered AI to Flag Potential Officer Misconduct
UK Parliament Rebukes Police Over Ban on Israeli Football Fans
Britain Emerges Among a Small Group of Nations Without a Religious Majority
UK’s Manufacturing Base at Risk as Soaring Energy Costs Weigh on Industry
Matt Goodwin’s Unconventional Campaign for Reform UK in the Gorton and Denton By-Election
US Military Movements in the UK Spark Speculation Over Preparations Related to Iran Tensions
UK Faces Significant Economic Risk From Trump’s New Global Tariff Regime
UK Defence Secretary Signals Intent to Deploy British Troops to Ukraine
UK Students Mark Lunar New Year as Universities Adjust to New Equality Compliance Rules
UK Government Weighs Removing Prince Andrew from Line of Succession After Arrest
×