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Amazon Pays No UK Corporation Tax

Huffington Post UK  |  By Posted: 5/04/2012 09:56 Updated: 5/04/2012 13:12

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Amazon.co.uk is under investigation by UK tax authorities for making more than £3.3 billion in this country last year whilst paying no UK corporation tax.

The investigation was revealed in a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

Amazon has just launched the new Amazon Kindle Touch in the UK, and is the biggest online retailer in Britain, selling nearly one in four books bought here, according to The Guardian.

The Guardian also reported that Amazon's tax affairs are being investigated in the US, China, Germany, France, Japan and Luxembourg.

Boxden reports that the online retailer's British distribution company is owned by company from Luxembourg, which receives all payments for goods sold through the UK site.

An Amazon spokesperson told The Huffington Post: "Amazon EU serves tens of millions of customers and sellers throughout Europe from multiple consumer websites in a number of languages, dispatching products to all 27 countries in the EU. We have a single European Headquarters in Luxembourg with hundreds of employees to manage this complex operation."

Amazon does not reveal sales figures for its e-books or Amazon Kindle readers, but a YouGov survey estimated that one in 40 adults received a Kindle for Christmas in 2011, and that 1.33m e-readers were sold over the Christmas period.

An HMRC spokesperson told The Huffington Post: "We can't discuss Amazon for legal reasons, but HMRC applies the tax laws as they apply to multinationals so the UK receives the tax revenues to which it is legally entitled. 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 (JITSIC) on a co-ordinated global approach to prevent loss of tax through unacceptable corporate structuring."

The SEC filing can be downloaded from its website.

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Amazon.co.uk is under investigation by UK tax authorities for making more than £3.3 billion in this country last year whilst paying no UK corporation tax. The investigation was revealed in a US S...
Amazon.co.uk is under investigation by UK tax authorities for making more than £3.3 billion in this country last year whilst paying no UK corporation tax. The investigation was revealed in a US S...
 
 
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raywbailey
0 Fans
11:59 AM on 04/06/2012
I contacted C North, ceo Amazon yesterday asking if it was true that they avoided corporation tax. They replied:

Dear Mr Bailey,

My name is Heather Kehoe and I work within Amazon.co.uk Executive Customer Relations.

I am contacting you on behalf of the office of the Amazon.co.uk Ltd Managing Director, Mr Christopher North. After reviewing your correspondence, Mr North has requested that I respond to your email.

Amazon serves millions of customers throughout Europe and we pay all applicable taxes in all the jurisdictions within which we operate.

We hope to see you again soon.

Regards

Heather Kehoe
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.co.uk

I responded:

Thank you very much for your speedy reply. The fact that you pay taxes in various jurisdictions in Europe is probably correct. My point was whether or not you avoid, by arrangement, paying significant corporation taxes to the jurisdiction that accommodates your operations and supplies your staff.

The UK builds the roads your lorries travel down and supplies the infrastructure and customers that allow you to thrive. It educates the children of your staff and protects them from enemies, crime and disease. To avoid, in return, paying your fair share of taxes to the juisdictions that provides this business environment may seem good/clever business practice to you (and maybe even to some of your shareholders) but to me and millions of others it is nothing less than corporate theft, selfishness and greed.

I am cancelling my Amazon a/c.
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Jonathan Edwards
2 Fans
09:30 PM on 04/05/2012
I'm one person, I set up a little petition yesterday and it's already 500 people strong! I want to make a very awkward public statement to AmazonUK and companies like AmazonUK who disguise their tax avoidance as a means of remaining competitive: The people of the UK know that multinationals are avoiding paying tax and we want it to stop. Please would you sign and pass on this petition to as many people as you possibly can?

http://www.change.org/petitions/amazonuk-you-owe-your-uk-customers
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Lechiffre
224 Fans
01:11 PM on 04/07/2012
They should make this record public and for each jurisdiction they operate in . Posting dividends every 3/4/year means scheisse if you don't know what's being done to obtain them.
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post247
0 Fans
06:55 PM on 04/05/2012
many small retailers would still be in business if they did not pay coperation tax like low cost amazon who dont pay the tax they need to pay like all of us
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stix158
18 Fans
03:11 PM on 04/05/2012
I thought it was standard practice in the UK for the large companies to dodge tax? with HMRC only challenging SME's
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the grange gorman
Rachel Corrie is the greatest person since Lennon
445 Fans
11:09 AM on 04/05/2012
Boycott Amazon

Corporate giants should pay tax.
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eric14
1215 Fans
 
11:36 AM on 04/05/2012
Agreed.
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