Amazon paid just £220m in taxes in the UK last year, despite raking in £10.9bn from its sprawling British business.
The etail titan revealed details of tax bill last night, for the first time in 21 years of trading on UK shores. It does not usually publish details of most of its UK profits or tax payments because retail sales go through a Luxembourg-based company, Amazon EU.
Employer’s national insurance, business rates, corporation tax and stamp duty made up the £220m total Amazon paid in 2018, though it did not break this down to reveal how much corporation tax was paid.
Amazon’s business rates bill stood at £63m in 2018 and the etailer insisted it paid more than that in national insurance. That implies it paid just £94m in other direct taxes, including corporation tax, across its UK business.
Its warehouse and logistics division, Amazon UK Services, which employs more than two-thirds of its 27,500 British workforce, paid £14m in corporation tax – almost tripling the £4.7m it paid in 2017.
In a Companies House filing due to be lodged today, Amazon UK Services will reveal it made a pre-tax profit of £75.4m, up 4.1% year on year, on sales of £2.4bn.
An Amazon spokesman said: “As we continue to hire and grow in the UK, we help fund public services and infrastructure throughout the country. We do this through the taxes that are collected by the exchequer as a consequence of our activities in the UK.”
Retailers have become more vocal in their efforts to level the playing field between the tax burdens of online and offline retailers.
Tesco boss Dave Lewis has led that charge, while Sports Direct chief executive Mike Ashley mooted the idea of a digital sales tax at an appearance before a Commons select committee in December.
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