(edit title) Anyone bought from amazon.co.uk How much tax do you pay? Options

[Gletta]

Amazon does pay tax in the Uk, just not corporation tax as it is not required to not being a UK company.

[Yorkshireman]

The UK Tax authorities are not quite sure about that with regards Corporation Tax! and it is understood that they are either under investigation, or just being investigated as part of a routine tax audit!

In 2006 Amazon transfered the share ownership from the UK to their company in Luxembourg, and claims that all orders and payments are made there, and that the UK operation is classed as an order fulfilment (delivery) business.

I remember reading somewhere in the business press a few weeks ago that Amazon's tax affairs are also being investigated in the US, China, Germany, France, Japan and Luxembourg.

[joshr]

Amazon add Swedish tax to your bill. I spent a long time arguing with them about it. They say they have an agreement with the Swedish tax office. What I do now is find out who ... (show full quote)

Amazon add Swedish tax to your bill. I spent a long time arguing with them about it. They say they have an agreement with the Swedish tax office. What I do now is find out who their supplier is, it is normally at the top of the page, and go direct to them.They don't add on the Swedish tax. It has been discovered in the UK that they haven't been paying their UK tax so I suppose they are not paying Swedish tax either. I have stopped dealing with then. ... (hide full quote)

Amazon has been accused of avoiding paying corporate income tax. VAT is a different story. As far as I know, there have been no issues with it.

As far as VAT, companies that sell over a certain value into another country are required to register and collect VAT based upon the country that they are shipping to. A long time ago Amazon.co.uk only charged the UK tax rate, but as their volumes went up, they became required to charge Swedish VAT.

You will find that a lot of smaller retailers are willing to ship to Sweden only charging their local VAT rate, while larger companies need to charge the usually higher Swedish VAT rate. You can find the exact specifics on the Skatteverket website.

Going direct to a supplier can lead to a better price sometimes, but you usually also get stuck with shipping charges. Filtering your selection so you only see things sold from amazon.co.uk makes life easier.

Shipping to southern Sweden takes about a week. Seems that they hand it off to DHL who then hands it off to Posten. Many of the packages are delivered right to your door, as they are treated as business shipments (be sure to put your doorcode on the package or you will go have to pick it up at Posten's business center. If you spring for Priority shipping, I've had most things delivered next day.

[Rick Methven]

One problem with Amazon is that it can take weeks for delivery.

Last thing I bought from Amazon UK was a Bosch paint sprayer quite a bulky thing weighing 12 kg. I ordered it on a Saturday morning got a dispatched email in the afternoon and it was delivered by DHL 10 oclock Monday morning from Amazon Germany.