Online retailer Amazon has been accused once again of engaging in tax avoidance here in the UK, yet once more the multinational has dismissed allegations.
When it comes to firms that have solid brass bollocks, Amazon is up the best (or should I say worst?) of them. Never mind that the multinational company has been accused more than once in the past of playing fast and loose with taxation rules. Now, Amazon has revealed that in excess of £11 billion was more or less laundered through a subsidiary of the retailer last year located in Luxembourg. Go ahead and wager a guess as to how much corporation tax the company actually paid in 2013.
If you guessed anything over £4 million, congratulations: you’re dead wrong. That’s right, a company that had more than £11 billion flowing through its coffers paid just £4 million to the taxman. The worst part about this is that it’s completely bloody legal thanks to a raft of loopholes that encourage multinationals to use offshore intermediaries to clean their dirty money!
So yes, technically Amazon hasn’t done anything illegal. Immoral and unethical? Absolutely. And notice how there’s nothing more than an anaemic outcry from policymakers when a multinational such as Amazon gets caught red-handed: there will be a bit of a row but nothing will change, I guarantee you. Meanwhile if even the smallest of small businesses does something even remotely similar to Amazon it gets the book thrown at them – how many times have I talked about freelancers and contract workers getting raked over the hot coals by HMRC because of tax avoidance issue?
I suppose that if you have shedloads of cash to grease the wheels of deceit, you can get away with anything in this world, eh? Honestly it makes me sick to my stomach. And Amazon isn’t the only multinational that pulls stunts like this either – big businesses such as Starbucks do much of the same to a different extent, yet nothing untoward ever happens to them yet once again you’re always hearing stories how contract workers are constantly being investigated by the tax authority for ‘not paying their fair share.’ Of course what’s happening is that you and I and freelance workers are ending up paying our fair share and then some to make up for these dishonest multinationals!
