Amazon UK pays £648m in tax as revenues surpass £23bn

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.”

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

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