// Amazon UK tax bill rises to £781m as sales top £24bn
// The retail giant benefited from a £7.7m tax credit under Rishi Sunak’s super-deduction scheme
Amazon’s UK arm paid £781m in direct taxes last year, despite sales hitting £24bn, as it continued its expansion across the country.
According to The Guardian, the retail giant’s main UK division benefited from a £7.7m tax credit on its £1.6bn investment into infrastructure under Rishi Sunak’s super-deduction scheme.
The scheme allows businesses to offset 130% of spending on plant and machinery against profits for two years from April 2021. Amazon received £1.13m in credit in the first year.
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This meant Amazon UK Services paid no corporation tax last year for the second time in a row, however other parts of the retailer’s UK business did pay an undisclosed amount.
Pre-tax profits for the main division jumped 9% to £222m in 2022 thanks to an 8% uptick in sales to £6.56bn.
Amazon said it paid more than £3.6bn in total contribution in 2022, including indirect taxes like VAT, up from £2.7bn the year prior.
The ecommerce giant added it had invested £12bn in the UK last year, including £1.6bn on warehouse infrastructure to speed up order fulfillment.
Earlier this year, Amazon revealed it would be closing three warehouses in the UK and seven small delivery sites this year which will affect more than 1,300 jobs.
The closures will be replaced by two new major fulfilment centres, in Peddimore in the West Midlands and Stockton-on-Tees in the North Eastm, that will open over the next three years.
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