Amazon UK tax bill rises to £781m

Amazon has reportedly paid £781m of tax in the UK last year despite its main UK division having paid no corporation tax for the second year in a row, according to The Guardian.

The outlet revealed that Amazon UK Services, which accounts for over half of the retail giant’s UK staff, received a tax credit of £7.7m as part of the government’s ‘Super-Deduction Scheme’.

It comes as Amazon was said to have invested £1.6bn in infrastructure including new warehouse and robotic equipment.

The overall tax figure is said to include business rates, employer’s national insurance contributions and corporation tax and is up from £648m a year before.

Speaking to The Guardian, Paul Monaghan, the chief executive of the Fair Tax Foundation, said: “Over the last decade, Amazon has grown its market domination across the globe on the back of income that is largely untaxed – allowing it to unfairly undercut local businesses that take a more responsible approach.

“We now have a situation where Amazon UK Services is not only not paying tax, but is being handed tax credits for investment that almost certainly would have happened anyway…”

An Amazon spokesperson said: “Amazon UK Services is only a small part of our business, and when you look across all our UK companies we paid corporation tax last year. The reduction in tax for Amazon UK Services specifically is a result of our significant capital investments in the UK.”