Amazon UK pays £648m in tax as revenues surpass £23bn
Amazon also confirmed it contributed £2.13bn in indirect taxes collected - it said this consists of the taxes it collects and remit from its customers, employees, and other third parties because of its business activities in the UK
Amazon UK has revealed it paid £648m in directly incurred taxes last year as its revenues surpassed £23bn.
As part of an update of its economic impact on the UK economy in 2021, Amazon also revealed that this figure has increased by almost a third in the past year from £492m. Amazon said increases in 2021 were largely driven by headcount growth and the expansion of its real estate footprint.
Amazon also confirmed it contributed £2.13bn in indirect taxes collected – it said this consists of the taxes it collects and remit from its customers, employees, and other third parties because of its business activities in the UK – including VAT and the taxes paid by its employees through PAYE.
The news comes as it revealed revenues increased by over 14% to £23.19bn.
However, the company also reportedly received a tax credit of over £1m from HMRC during the period, according to The Guardian.
The figures found in the accounts filed for the US company’s Luxembourg-based division, revealed it received the amount as part of a rebate on ‘current tax’ after benefiting from the government’s ‘super-deduction’ scheme which encouraged businesses to invest in infrastructure, which was introduced by former chancellor, Rishi Sunak, last year.
Amazon said in a statement to the outlet: “The government uses the taxation system to actively encourage companies to make investments in infrastructure and job creation. Last year, we invested more than £11.4bn in the UK, building four new fulfilment centres and creating more than 25,000 jobs.
“We are investing heavily in creating jobs and infrastructure across Europe – more than €100bn since 2010. Corporation tax is based on profits, not revenues, and last year, Amazon EU Sarl made a loss as we opened more than 50 new sites across Europe and created over 65,000 well-paid jobs, taking our total European permanent workforce to over 200,000.”
It added: “Across Europe, we pay corporate tax amounting to hundreds of millions of euros. We operate this pan-European business from our headquarters in Luxembourg, where we have over 3,600 employees and growing, including our senior leadership team.”
