Amazon paid no corporation taxes on over £7bn revenues

Despite amassing sales of over £7.5 billion in the UK this year, online retailer Amazon have paid nothing in tax, it has been revealed.

Tax officials have now launched an investigation into the matter, to determine whether the multi-million pound business has avoided tax legally.

Like many similar-sized companies, Amazon’s operations spread over several countries and continents and its seven warehouses in the UK are designated for delivery, whereas sales are run out of Luxembourg, which is a low-tax principality.

This means that despite the magnitude of UK sales, none of the tax from those products is benefiting people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as Amazon is being taxed in Luxembourg.

But HMRC aren’t the only ones investigating the company.  According to the Independent, they are also being investigated in Germany, France, China, the US, Japan and Luxembourg.

HMRC made this comment: “Where there is a high risk of the UK losing out we move our resources to challenge that risk and HMRC works within the Joint International Tax Shelter Information Centre on a co-ordinated global approach to prevent loss of tax through unacceptable corporate structuring.”

The company itself declined to comment, but did say: “We have a single European headquarters in Luxembourg with hundreds of employees to manage this complex operation.”

Eleanor Hooper