Amazon paid just ￡1.7m in UK tax last year, Bank of England faces interest rate backlash, and more top news
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Amazon paid just ￡1.7m of tax in the UK last year, despite posting a turnover of ￡2bn. The company slashed its UK corporation tax bill by 38% from ￡7.4m in 2016 to ￡4.5m last year, but managed to reduce its payment further via adjustments including a ￡1.3m tax credit from the UK authorities. Amazon UK employs more than 27,000 workers and claims to have invested over ￡9.3bn in the UK since 2010.
Business leaders have hit out at the Bank of England over it’s “ill-judged” decision to raise interest rates. The central bank’s monetary policy committee voted unanimously to raise interest rates from 0.5% to 0.75% – the highest level since the global financial crisis a decade ago. The British Chamber of Commerce warned the decision “risks undermining confidence at a time of significant political and economic uncertainty.” Nationwide estimates a borrower with a mortgage of ￡100,000 will see an increase of ￡12 in their repayment.
Apple Inc has become America's first trillion-dollar listed company. The tech titan’s share price was buoyed by strong financial results released earlier this week. The US-based iPhone and Mac maker is now worth ￡768bn – more than a third the size of the UK economy and larger than the economies of Turkey and Switzerland. The last - and only other - company to reach a $1 trillion market cap was in 2007, when PetroChina debuted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The following year its market value plunged to less than $260 billion during the financial crisis.
A new white knight has emerged for beleaguered retailer House of Fraser. Sky News reports Jaeger owner Philip Day is in talks with House of Fraser to save the department store chain after Chinese investor C. Banner pulled out of a ￡70m rescue deal. The talks could spark a takeover battle with Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley. Meanwhile, a legal challenge to overturn plans to close more than half its stores is set to be heard on 14th August.
Workers who switch jobs are enjoying the highest pay growth in a decade, according to new research. Thinktank Resolution Foundation showed pay growth for workers who moved jobs in the last 12 months hit 11% earlier this year – the highest since 2011. Meanwhile, those who stayed with their employer experienced growth of just 2.5%, below the pre-crisis average. Researchers suggest the rise of the “disloyalty bonus” could point to stronger pay growth in the near future.
This article has been updated to reflect that Apple is the first US company to reach a $1 trillion market cap, the first global company was PetroChina in 2007.
Idea of the Day: Don’t give in to self doubt, says Netflix’s Amir Moini.
“The challenge of trying something with no experience is not only to learn it, but to be great at it. This comes with moments of failure and as hard as those moments can be, we learn the most about ourselves during those times.”
Man of leisure!
6 年The UK government need to fully investigate the activities of pure on-line sales - Amazon, Alibaba, Facebook, Gumtree etc etc. The corporation tax avoidance schemes are the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot of commentary on a level playing field to protect the high street that is a vital part of many towns and communities. What is the best way to tackle this? Short term to raise revenue and increase online sales channel costs would be a gross sales tax and remove transfer pricing tax benefits. This would also increase tax revenue from non UK based entities such as Starbucks, McDonalds, Lidl, Aldi & TKMax to name but a few.
Global Network Analyst at SwissRe
6 年I am sure UK has VAT on goods and services Amazon sells, and I am also sure Amazon has employees who are UK citizens or not that pay social insurance, or similar things. Corporate tax can be avoided in many ways but UK government should focus more on how they can tax Amazon more efficiently in their sales and services on the spot or every month when they do VAT returns. There are more thing to look at rather thank common thing.
Sales manager at VSM Abrasives
6 年We need a angry button Mr Linkedin
Full time carer for my wife.
6 年How the hell is this even possible?