I guess we are familiar with the discussion, whether companies especially tech companies are paying their due in taxes. There was the huge discussion of Amazon paying nearly no taxes, using loopholes and so forth. I will stick with Amazon in this question as the most popular example but the question is general:
What are the real income tax expenses in the 10-K?
There are the two obvious positions "Cash paid for income taxes, net of refunds" and "Provision for income taxes". Those positions for Amazon in 2018 were ~1.2 Billion USD (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000101872419000004/amzn-20181231x10k.htm). In relation to the income of bit over to 11 Billion USD that is low, but not nearly as low as news and reports made it seem. Googling led me to a host of articles regarding "no/low federal income tax paid" but that is pretty much it. So in conclusion: are those positions regarding income tax payments the final number on taxes paid and the whole news surrounding that topic is just horribly misleading (although targeting an important topic) or are there further deductions made, which are not contained in those positions? And if so, where can I find those numbers?
