Accounts for one of online giant Amazon’s biggest UK companies show it paid no corporation tax last year despite profits jumping by a quarter
Online giant Amazon has been accused by critics of “systematic tax avoidance” after the release of documents on its vast dealings in the UK.
The multinational founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos has previously disclosed it generated sales of around £32billion in the UK last year. Its sprawling businesses include its colossal online store stocking a vast array of products, through to Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing arm that has a string of taxpayer paid UK government contracts.
However, much of its finances in the UK have been criticised as being veiled in secrecy because money historically flowed through its European division in Luxembourg, because it has taken advantage of legal tax credit and relief schemes, or due to the company refusing to provide more transparency.
Some details have been now disclosed with the recent release of accounts for a number of Amazon-owned companies registered with the UK’s Companies House.
Analysis by campaign group the Fair Tax Foundation revealed that five of those businesses raked in just over £16billion in sales last year, and made £555million of profit. Yet it says they paid just £39.3million worth of corporation tax between them. That equated to a tax rate of just 7.1% when the UK’s standard rate of corporation tax is 25%.
Among the entities is Amazon UK Services, which runs its vast fulfilment centres, and generated £8.2billion of revenues last year and £355million of profit, a rise of 26%. However, a potential corporation tax bill for the year was wiped out by “adjustments in respect of previous periods”.
Amazon, which has a stock market value of almost £2trillion, recently issued an update in which boasted about paying more than £1.3billion in “direct” taxes in the UK, up from more than £1billion in 2024. However, the figure takes in a whole host of elements, from corporation tax and business rates to employers’ national insurance and the digital services tax.
John Boumphrey, Amazon’s UK boss, again refused to break down the figures – or reveal what profit it made in the UK – when quizzed by the Mirror last week. He insisted the tech giant had been “on a journey of transparency” but claimed revealing its UK corporation tax could be “taken out of context”. He went on: “If you are in heavy investment mode, it can go up and down. What we have done is take the decision to tell the whole story.”
Paul Monaghan, chief executive at the Fair Tax Foundation, said: “In the UK, Amazon has enjoyed a great year when it comes to paying low or little corporate income tax on their profits. How on earth can other retailers compete with hard-wired systematic tax avoidance such as this.
“Last month, Amazon loudly released their annual tax contribution report in an effort to skew the debate before these figures quietly appeared at Companies House over the weekend. Surely the time has come for Amazon to come clean on exactly how much income, profit and corporation tax they pay in the UK and every other country.”
Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, national secretary of the GMB union, said: “Workers in Amazon warehouses generate enormous wealth every single day. Yet billions in UK sales and hundreds of millions in profit result in a pitifully low corporation tax bill.
“At a time when public services are under huge pressure and working people are being asked to shoulder the burden, it is only fair that multinational corporations like Amazon make a proper contribution to the society and infrastructure they rely on.”
An Amazon source insisted that a £132.8million tax charge for Amazon UK Services would be paid over time, and that UK sales that flowed through its Luxembourg arm was then returned to another offshoot here, where any profits were liable for tax.
An Amazon spokesperson said: “The Fair Tax Foundation is aware the selected filings do not reflect the full scale of our business in the UK. They are also aware that investment in any given year can impact the corporation tax payable by a business. Amazon is a top five taxpayer in the UK and paid more than £1.3billion in direct taxes last year, which includes corporation tax. This is more than 20% higher than the year before.
“We are delivering on our £40 billion UK investment plan, employing 75,000 people across the country. Over the past year we opened a new fulfilment centre in Hull, developed a state-of-the-art site in Northampton, and expanded our footprint in London and Swansea, while continuing to grow our delivery and data centre network, creating thousands of jobs across the country.”