Experts have raised concerns that Amazon may escape paying significantly more tax in some of its biggest markets unless world leaders close a large loophole in a historic global deal.

Finance ministers in London from the G7 group of wealthy nations, including representatives of the UK, US and EU, on Saturday agreed the landmark deal aimed at making the biggest companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Google and Facebook pay more tax.

The two “pillars” of the deal would make companies pay a percentage of their profits in markets where they make large sales despite minimal corporate presence, as well as setting an unprecedented global minimum corporation tax.

However, a communique from G7 ministers said that they envisaged pillar one would only apply on “profit exceeding a 10% margin for the largest and most profitable multinational enterprises”, a restriction that could rule out Amazon.

Amazon is one of the largest businesses in the world, with a market value of $1.6tn (£1.1tn) and sales of $386bn in 2020. A Luxembourg subsidiary paid zero corporation tax in 2020 on sales income from across Europe of €44bn (£38bn), making Amazon a prominent target for politicians campaigning for changes to the global tax system.

However, its profit margin in 2020 was only 6.3%. It runs its online retail business at very low profit margins, partly because it reinvests heavily, and partly to gain market share...

Janet Yellen, the US Treasury secretary, on Saturday told the Reuters news agency that she expected Facebook and Amazon to be covered by the proposal...

Work is under way by the OECD under the banner of its inclusive framework to resolve how companies should be taxed ahead of a meeting by the G20 groups of countries in July that is expected to ratify the G7 deal...

Facebook, the social network company, on Saturday said it believed it will pay more tax. However, Amazon was unable to say whether it expected to pay more tax.

An Amazon spokesperson said: “We believe an OECD-led process that creates a multilateral solution will help bring stability to the international tax system. The agreement by the G7 marks a welcome step forward in the effort to achieve this goal. We hope to see discussions continue to advance with the broader G20 and Inclusive Framework alliance.”