London - (AFP) - Thanks to a complex structure, US computer giant Microsoft Group avoids paying taxes on billions of dollars in countries where it has concluded lucrative public contracts, such as Britain, Australia and New Zealand, according to a study published Thursday.

"In many cases, Microsoft has not paid any tax in recent years by shifting profits to companies based in Bermuda and other tax havens," the Australian-based Accountancy and Research Center on International Corporate Taxation said in a statement.

Jason Ward, an analyst at the Institute of Studies, expressed his surprise because "Microsoft boasts that it offers profit margins in excess of thirty percent to its shareholders, even though it talks about imports that do not exceed 3 or 4 percent in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand," as the statement quoted.

He added, "It does not seem reasonable that the performance of these booming markets is so weak," considering that "a huge indicator of tax avoidance."

This, he added, "deprives the public sector of much-needed income," despite "billions in profits as a source of supply for the governments" of these countries.

The study said that Microsoft Global Finance, an Irish subsidiary with tax resident status in Bermuda, has invested more than $100 billion. Despite the investment earnings of $2.4 billion, he paid no taxes in 2020.

The other example mentioned in the study is Microsoft Singapore Holdings, the branch in Singapore, which announced profits of $ 22.4 billion in 2020, and only paid $ 15 in tax.

Microsoft has concluded public contracts worth at least $3.3 billion in the last five years in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia or Canada, according to the data in the study.

The center indicated that Microsoft is subject to investigations by the tax departments in the United States and other countries, especially in Australia, explaining that "more than eighty percent of its total income in foreign exchange passes through Puerto Rico and Ireland."

Microsoft wrote in its annual report in 2021 that "in fiscal years 2021 and 2020, foreign regional operating centers in Ireland and Puerto Rico, which are subject to tax rates lower than the US average, generated 82 percent and 86 percent of our foreign income before tax."

In contact with the report's authors, Microsoft said it respects "all local laws and regulations" in the countries in which it operates.