Amazon.co.uk pay ZERO tax in the UK. Why are people more annoyed about the bloke down the road maybe getting a benefit that he shouldn't than that. I don't understand.

[Pagwatch]

Seriously. This weasel on radio 5 this morning just kept saying 'we pay all relevant taxes for the region' but wouldn't answer when Andrew Verity pressed 'yes, but that means tat you pay no tax in the ZuK because you have chosen to place Amazon.co.uk registered head office in Luxemborg.

If everyone phoned their mp about corporate tax evasion rather than mrs smiggins who is getting DLA when she looks fine we could pay off the deficit.

Hooray!

No. Seriously. Why don't we care about this?

they're not doing anything illegal.

Their head office is not in the UK. Therefore their tax responsibilities are not in the UK. That's how business works.

You wouldn't be legally complicit if you paid a tradesman cash instead of by cheque or card. Cas is perfectly legal tender in the UK and the responsibility lies with the tradesperson not the client.

They aren't doing anything illegal, but it is worth considering other retailers that do pay corporation tax in this country. That's if you care and I think it probably is worth caring as the uk relies on corporation tax.

The company pays the VAT it collects to Govt and it pays NI and income tax to Govt on wages it pays in the UK and pay Business Rates on the buildings it occupies.

The idea of imposing taxes on firms' profits is outdated in my view because business is so international now. Consumption taxes like VAT, wealth taxes on property and Business rates are much easier to impose and less easy to avoid.

This isn't a new phenomenon. I worked for a firm 25 years ago that never paid UK tax. It quite legally avoided it by routing all its contracts and invoices via Switzerland even though the business was operating a large part of its business out of the UK.

Emmmmm apple and amazon are not from a 'developing country'.
And 'foreign aid' is a complex, often misunderstood term - depending on the giver.
Please don't mix the two.

Was to me, I think. I think we should mix the 2. Companies avoid paying money to governments, the shortfall is made up via indirect taxation and in some cases, aid.

So does that mean that a company that is based in the UK shouldn't be able to sell their product or service in France because if they did it would be screwing the French out of tax?

Don't be silly. Companies have to be based somewhere, and unless all companies are going to be prevented from ever trading with customers in other countries, this situation will always happen somewhere.

Companies have to be based somewhere, but basing themselves where the tax is non existent puts them at an unfair advantage. At the very least as consumers we need transparency.

I bought a lot from Amazon over Christmas. I factored in the convenience, and the effect it would have on local shops and balanced it by shopping locally at other times. What I didn't consider, because I didn't know was that Amazon don't pay the taxes that the local independent bookshop down the road does.

Now I know I'll think twice before buying from Amazon.

I didn't know that.

Amazon is my favourite online retailer. I might have to rethink that now as that pisses me off a lot.

Well, we all enjoy the goods at such a low price.

They are an American company, with a European division who operate in 5 EU countries ( Germany, France, UK, Italy and Spain).

You could probably give a very strong arguement that they are better off basing their European HQ on the mainland, not in the UK.

So really, they pay all their taxes and aren't doing anything wrong.

Unless you think that companies should have to set up an HQ in every country where they have a presence.

I should add that I refuse to use them for other reasons and bought all my book Christmas presents from our local real life bookshops.

They are an American company, with a European division who operate in 5 EU countries ( Germany, France, UK, Italy and Spain)

And yet they chose to base themselves in Switzerland.

We benefit in the short term from low prices as individual consumers , but Amazon and other online retailers inevitably threaten employment in real shops, therefore the property value of real shops and a boroughs income from business rates, and once we pick up the bill for all this as taxpayers we may not benefit so well.

Amazon, an offshore company, taking all our money to sell us things that would have formerly been made here now manufctured in China - I wonder where it will all end?

I see that many of the marketplace partners at Amazon avoid VAT by pricing an item at 0.1p and charginf £5.95 for p&p.

they're in Luxembourg, not Switzerland??

\link{http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/31/amazon-fourth-quarter-results-kindle?INTCMP=SRCH& the parent company is claiming declining profits & forecasting a loss in the current quarter}

Why should they base their HQ in england? They aren't an exclusively English corporation and deal with all over Europe!

A business needs to make its decisions based on what makes financial sense.

I'm off to buy stuff now... And not give a flying fook

Sorry, Luxembourg/ Switzerland confusion. Which raises the point, what is the point of the EU if member states can offer tax benefits that undercut other states.

This is a non issue they are paying the relevant taxes as they are registered in Luxembourg.

Ok.

I know they are not doing anything illegal. That is rather the point of my op but thanks for all those who felt the need to tell me.

Also I am not talking about the parent company/Amazon.com. I am talking about Amazon.co.uk being based in Luxemborg.

Yes, of course they hire people and pay ni etc and god knows we need the jobs, but really. Zil tax?

In the uk, Amazon are a service centre so don't pay corporation tax. They do however contribute via employee taxes, and a not insignificant employer National Insurance contribution.

Of course, they do employ a lot of people on zero-hour contracts with T&Cs that make it incovenient to have supplementary jobs. And it isn't uncommon for said people to be called into work for a fractional amount of paid time that doesn't cover the travel expenses for that day.

But these are probably topics for another discussion.

Surely a .co.uk should be classed as based in the uk? It is UK territory, even if this is a web territory.

Good question Pag. Many sales that would happen on our high streets are now made online so this should be looked into.

The firm I mentioned earlier was a UK Ltd company but stil paid no tax as it generated no profit in the UK. A .co.uk address signifies nothing. Not even the location of a computer server.

.co.uk sites can be based anywhere, Chicken - it's why you always have to try & find out exactly where, if a site seems a bit dodgy & doesn't give UK contact information

I received something VATable from amazon today & the VAT is itemised - presumably this means HMRC receives it...?

Well to be honest all tax evasion / avoidance p's me off. As does benefit fraud. Quite frankly all these b*stards are stealing from each and every one of us adn it gets me incredibly angry. Of course Dave will only go after the easy targets, he can't go annoying his CEO mates who will be giving him and George the new job when he gets kicked out of office in a couple of years.

Disclaimer - I should say I hate most politicians - Dopy Dave, Idiotic Ed and Numpty Nicks parties are all crap, they all let big corporations do as they please.

Just wanted to clarify that I am self employed and am often paid in cash. I take that cash and put it in the bank along with the cheques, all of which is declared (though you don't have to even put it in the bank, just declare it).

Some business accounts charge for depositing cheques so that may be part of the reason tradesmen charge more for cheques.

Of course many do avoid tax but I hate when customers hand me cash with a conspiratorial wink or get pissy when I quote the same for cheque or cash.

If we had more favourable taxation for corporations in the UK then we'd tempt more of them here. Other countries understand this (eg Switzerland and Ireland etc) hence why they choose to base themselves there.

We benefit from businesses being here through jobs (both directly and indirectly - for example all the couriers Amazon uses).