Amazon reveals UK revenues jump as it pays £1bn tax bill

Amazon has said its tax bill rose to £1 billion last year after revenues lifted to more than £29 billion.

The online marketplace, which is one of the country’s biggest employers, said its taxes increased from £932 million in 2023.

The direct taxes the company must pay includes corporation tax, business rates, and digital services tax.

These came to about £1 billion in the UK for 2024, according to a blog post by the business.

Amazon has faced significant criticism over its UK tax affairs in recent years, with the company not paying corporation tax in 2021 and 2022 due to the “super-deduction” tax break, which has since been reformed.

It is understood that Amazon did pay corporation tax last year, but it did not disclose how much it paid in each tax.

The Silicon Valley based company stressed that it is among the “top 10 UK taxpayers” and plans to invest £40 billion in the country over the next three years.

Furthermore, the total amount of tax Amazon collected, such as VAT, which customers pay on products they buy, or the national insurance contributions of its staff, came to more than £4.7 billion last year.

The company also reported that its revenues across its activities in the UK rose to more than £29 billion from about £27 billion a year earlier.

Amazon employs more than 75,000 people across the UK and said it plans to hire thousands more as part of its continued growth plan.

This will include 2,000 jobs at its new warehouse in Hull and about 2,000 at another in Northampton.