Amazon UK tax bill soars to over £1.3 billion amid rising costs
Amazon revealed it paid more than £1.3bn in tax in the UK last year; This is a significant increase resulting from increased labor and operating expenses.
The online retail giant’s total tax bill is up at least 20 per cent on the previous year’s figure of more than £1bn.
This increase in contributions is attributed to a number of factors, including the national insurance rate increase implemented in April last year, as well as increased payments in corporation tax and business rates.
Direct taxes for which Amazon is responsible include corporation tax, business rates, employer national insurance and digital services tax.
Despite being one of the UK’s largest employers, the company has recently made a number of redundancies globally.
Notably, Amazon will not pay any corporation tax in 2021 and 2022, benefiting from the “super deduction” tax cut introduced by then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak and which has since been revised.
Amazon doesn’t disclose how much it pays in each tax.
Additionally, the total amount of taxes collected, such as VAT paid by customers on products they buy or their employees’ national insurance contributions, reached nearly £5bn, up from £4.7bn the previous year.
The online giant employs around 75,000 people in the UK in roles such as warehouse workers, delivery drivers, corporate and technology roles, making it one of the ten largest private employers.
But layoffs are on the rise after Amazon announced plans to cut nearly 16,000 jobs at the beginning of the year; most of these took place in the USA.
Bosses have said they want to cut layers and cut red tape across the group.
Meanwhile, new figures show the company generated more than £30bn in revenue from its UK operations last year, up from around £29bn in 2024.
Amazon is pursuing plans to invest around £40 billion in the UK between 2025 and 2027.
More than £15bn has already been spent on developments such as new warehouse spaces and offices in London, according to the business.
It has also launched drone deliveries from its fulfillment center in Darlington, Co Durham, becoming the first location in the UK to trial the Prime Air service.
