How much tax Amazon pays in the UK

Corporate giant Amazon has published new data detailing how much it pays in tax and contributes to the wider UK economy.

The group notes that its total tax contributions totalled more than £5.8 billion last year (2024), including over £1 billion in taxes borne. This makes it one of the top 10 taxpayers in the country, it said.

The full year to 31 December 2024 shows:

Total tax contribution (combining taxes borne and taxes collected) was more than £5.8 billion (2023: £4.3 billion)
The total taxes borne were more than £1 billion (2023: £932 million)
The taxes collected and administered for the government were more than an additional £4.7 billion as a result of business activities in the UK (2023: £3.4 billion)

“As we continue to make investments in our UK operations and workforce, we help fund public services and infrastructure across the country,” the group said.

“When comparing our 2023 data to the most recent PwC Total Tax Contribution survey of The 100 Group (an independent study which analyses UK tax contributions from FTSE 100 companies and other large UK private companies), Amazon ranks in the top 10 largest UK taxpayers for taxes borne and collected, as well as for the overall total tax contribution.”

For the fourth consecutive year, Amazon said that it ranked in the top 10 for total capital investment and in 2023 ranked in the top five for business rates.

Other investments

While Amazon’s tax bill is impressive, the group noted that it has been operating and investing in the UK for over 25 years.

“Our investment includes building new infrastructure, including our fulfilment centres, corporate offices, and data centres (known as capital expenditure), and by creating jobs in towns and cities across the UK (known as operating expenditures),” the group said.

“These direct investments raise the economic activity in a given region and create a ripple effect through the economy as the firms that supply goods and services to Amazon expand and associated household spending increases.”

Some of the notable investments include:

In 2024, the total revenues of Amazon’s activities in the UK were more than £29 billion
Since 2010, Amazon has made direct investments in its UK operations of more than £80 billion
Last year (2024), the group invested £1.6 billion in its infrastructure

Amazon said it was also one of the biggest employers in the country.

“Our total permanent workforce of more than 75,000 employees makes us one of the top 10 private sector employers in the UK, according to PwC.

“Our employees are spread across the UK in a variety of corporate and technology roles in Amazon and Amazon Web Services (AWS), including software development, product management, and engineering, as well as jobs in the operations teams in our fulfilment centres, sort centres, and delivery stations.”