£38bn Sales...How Did Amazon Pay No Corporation Tax?

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, famously declared that “in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes”.

- Leo McKinstry

But that is not true in the case of the tech giant Amazon, whose colossal impact on global commerce is not matched by a willingness to face up to its consequent financial responsibilities.

In an extraordinary report out this week, it was revealed that the European arm of the mighty online retailer paid no corporation tax at all last year, despite record-breaking sales of £38billion fuelled by the surge in internet shopping during the Covid lockdowns.

Indeed, far from using its unprecedented revenues to assist battered governments around Europe in the crisis, the company exploited its complex web of accounting procedures to receive a payout in the form of a tax credit worth £49million.

Whatever the hardships that ordinary citizens have endured, the pandemic has been good for Amazon. In Britain alone, its income soared during this period by 51 per cent to £19.4billion, roughly double the takings of M&S.

Yet by channelling all its European earnings through the tiny tax haven of Luxembourg and by claiming massive losses of over £1billion, Amazon had no corporation tax liability whatsoever in Europe.