Do Amazon pay tax in the UK?

Telescopi said:
What are the profits derived from Amazon UK's operations? Do they have to report them anywhere - in Luxembourg?
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As I understand it, Amazon Luxembourg is the company that makes the profit (and pays very low corporation tax due to being based in a tax haven). Amazon UK is a service company that makes £0 profit and Amazon Luxembourg just pays for the costs Amazon UK incurs.
 
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Burnsy2023 said:
But by paying lower rates of corporation tax, Amazon have more money to spend on advertising, marketing and infrastructure which will most likely be invested in the UK. It swings in roundabouts.
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I agree they will constitute to a certain degree to our ecomomy. But surely this won't make good reading when the UK growth figures are released. I can't remember when I last walked into a retailer to buy a gift when I can get it cheaper online.
 
I live in Belgium and buy from Amazon.fr, amazon.de or even .co.uk.

Funnily enough the prices can vary sometimes by more than 30% between stores but it all comes from Luxemburg.

If we are to protect British then try sourcing British goods. 99.99% of christmas gifts are made outside the EU so the ultimate winners are the Asians.
 
lookitsjonno said:
I agree they will constitute to a certain degree to our ecomomy. But surely this won't make good reading when the UK growth figures are released. I can't remember when I last walked into a retailer to buy a gift when I can get it cheaper online.
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Personally, I'm not going to prop up businesses that have flawed business models. If they can't sell it at a price point that isn't close to the cheapest, then they won't get my business.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
What? Amazon provide jobs, pay NI, VAT and all the rest. The fact they don't pay corporation tax is just a small part of their tax burden.
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I think the issue is that small businesses based in the UK without the infrastructure and resources of Amazon et al pay a disproportionate amount of taxes compared to their size/turnover/profits and the numbers of people they employ.

I don't know what the solution is - but small start-up businesses are what will drive growth in the UK so it is important that they're not strangled by taxation compared to the incumbents who are able to do more "tax planning".
 
Burnsy2023 said:
Personally, I'm not going to prop up businesses that have flawed business models. If they can't sell it at a price point that isn't close to the cheapest, then they won't get my business.
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lol

so your suggesting every business out there close down their retail outlets and open up warehouses in the channel islands and corporate offices in Luxembourg?

nobody can compete with online pricing and i mean nobody, the only place that may be able to compete in the future are the UK supermarkets, as they are the only ones growing stronger everyday.

they don't have flawed business models, their models were the best 10 years ago, it's just that in an internet age and everyone shopping online, online retailers have much less overheads, therefore they can survive on smaller profit margins on goods.

a lot of UK companies are going bankrupt because of this, HMV, Virgin, Game, Gamestation, Woolworths, etc are all in trouble or have vanished, the only ones not in trouble are supermarkets and clothes retailer's because when you buy online pictures can be misleading and size's are different from store to store so you need to try them in person.

effectively when all the stores shut down, there will be even less jobs, meaning the UK needs to find a new "sector" to be leaders in, retail is on it's knees due to online retailing.

banking is also on it's knee's because of the recession and them having to be bailed out.

these 2 sector's were britains strongest 10 years ago.

the thing is, there are no new sectors the UK can lead in, online retailers from abroad can offer cheaper prices than UK retailers can, effectively this means that the UK has too many "taxes" to be ever be labelled competitive in a world market.

the only way to solve the problem is to cut down on MP's, their wages and government spending, and reduce taxes, but the MP's are hardly going to bring in legislation which screws themselves, so until then it is the public who will be the ones bending over.
 
jon86 said:
As I understand it, Amazon Luxembourg is the company that makes the profit (and pays very low corporation tax due to being based in a tax haven). Amazon UK is a service company that makes £0 profit and Amazon Luxembourg just pays for the costs Amazon UK incurs.
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Amazon UK probably operates on a small cost plus basis and earns a marginal profit on the services it provides to the principal risk taker in Luxembourg (i.e. where the majority of the profits are.)
 
Psycho Sonny said:
lol

so your suggesting every business out there close down their retail outlets and open up warehouses in the channel islands and corporate offices in Luxembourg?
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No, we should have a tax system that makes up competitive on both a European and global basis.

Psycho Sonny said:
nobody can compete with online pricing and i mean nobody, the only place that may be able to compete in the future are the UK supermarkets, as they are the only ones growing stronger everyday.
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Well at least we get Tesco's profits taxed then.

Psycho Sonny said:
they don't have flawed business models, their models were the best 10 years ago, it's just that in an internet age and everyone shopping online, online retailers have much less overheads, therefore they can survive on smaller profit margins on goods.

a lot of UK companies are going bankrupt because of this, HMV, Virgin, Game, Gamestation, Woolworths, etc are all in trouble or have vanished, the only ones not in trouble are supermarkets and clothes retailer's because when you buy online pictures can be misleading and size's are different from store to store so you need to try them in person.
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Sounds like a flawed and obsolete business model to me.

Psycho Sonny said:
the only way to solve the problem is to cut down on MP's, their wages and government spending, and reduce taxes, but the MP's are hardly going to bring in legislation which screws themselves, so until then it is the public who will be the ones bending over.
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As much as I think that MPs should have a pay cut, I doubt that'd make much difference to the public finances.
 
taxes definitely need to be cut, the UK economy from here on in, is only going to get worse, if they are not, and im talking about huge cuts, not 2.5% off VAT.

i mean 50% cuts across the board on all taxes.

then cut down on stupid spending on stuff like the Army, Navy, Research, AID, etc.

im pretty sure i could make the books float, instead of drowning year on year, sure some people may not like it when i decide to sell off the RAF, but do we honestly need them when we could just install SAM sites on the coast of every major city?

how much does it cost to run a plane carrier for 1 year? doesnt the fuel and ammo for a jet cost like a million pounds a day or something ridiculous like that?

all we need is enough defence to protect our own country not as much as we have now, which is enough to invade 10 countries.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
the only way to solve the problem is to cut down on MP's, their wages and government spending, and reduce taxes, but the MP's are hardly going to bring in legislation which screws themselves, so until then it is the public who will be the ones bending over.
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Would save next to no money and end changing the face of parliament significantly as only those that were independantly wealthy would be MPs.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
taxes definitely need to be cut, the UK economy from here on in, is only going to get worse, if they are not, and im talking about huge cuts, not 2.5% off VAT.

i mean 50% cuts across the board on all taxes.

then cut down on stupid spending on stuff like the Army, Navy, Research, AID, etc.

im pretty sure i could make the books float, instead of drowning year on year, sure some people may not like it when i decide to sell off the RAF, but do we honestly need them when we could just install SAM sites on the coast of every major city?

how much does it cost to run a plane carrier for 1 year? doesnt the fuel and ammo for a jet cost like a million pounds a day or something ridiculous like that?

all we need is enough defence to protect our own country not as much as we have now, which is enough to invade 10 countries.
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This might actually be the stupidest thing I have ever read.

It's clear that you have no idea what you are talking about so why even attempt to make it sound like you do?

Jesus. I can't even be bothered to formulate a proper retort to your nonsense.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
taxes definitely need to be cut, the UK economy from here on in, is only going to get worse, if they are not, and im talking about huge cuts, not 2.5% off VAT.

i mean 50% cuts across the board on all taxes.

then cut down on stupid spending on stuff like the Army, Navy, Research, AID, etc.

im pretty sure i could make the books float, instead of drowning year on year, sure some people may not like it when i decide to sell off the RAF, but do we honestly need them when we could just install SAM sites on the coast of every major city?

how much does it cost to run a plane carrier for 1 year? doesnt the fuel and ammo for a jet cost like a million pounds a day or something ridiculous like that?

all we need is enough defence to protect our own country not as much as we have now, which is enough to invade 10 countries.
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Your ridiculous post has literally made my day :D :p
 
Judgeneo said:
I use play instead of amazon mainly. Seems they are owned by the Japs, does the corporation tax get paid there?
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i use "invisible hand", google it, it tells me the cheapest site to buy anything from, tv's, to flights, games to mobile phones, etc.

it does it automatically too and in the background as i surf, so i get the cheapest price without having to do anything.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
i mean 50% cuts across the board on all taxes.

then cut down on stupid spending on stuff like the Army, Navy, Research, AID, etc.
...
all we need is enough defence to protect our own country not as much as we have now, which is enough to invade 10 countries.
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Reverting to a pure defence force is certainly something worthy of discussion but your figures are fundamentally wrong - the only things you could hack at to save 50% of spending would be the benefits system and the NHS, nothing else would cover even a fraction of your required cuts.

So which is it to be - poor dying of easily curable diseases/ trauma or the poor dying of starvation or exposure due to no benefit safety net?

Perhaps you could cut all benefits and reduce the NHS to medicare levels of spending but it wouldn't stimulate spending one jot - you'd save every penny you had because you never know when you may need to rely on those savings.
 
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