{"id":13422,"date":"2017-09-15T13:25:18","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T12:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13422"},"modified":"2017-09-15T15:36:16","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T14:36:16","slug":"online-tax-cheats%ef%bb%bf%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13422","title":{"rendered":"Online tax cheats\u010f\u00bb\u017c\u010f\u00bb\u017c"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Online retail giants such as Amazon and eBay are turning a blind eye to massive tax fraud happening under their watch \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to the tune of more than \u00c2\u01411bn a year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Foreign retailers selling their wares through Amazon or eBay are said to be evading between \u00c2\u01411bn and \u00c2\u01411.5bn a year in VAT \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and putting smaller UK retailers out of business in the process, equating to an additional \u00c2\u01416bn to \u00c2\u01419bn in lost sales revenue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The public accounts committee (PAC) yesterday (September 14) heard evidence<\/a> of the fraud, which happens when retailers based outside the EU import goods into the UK to sell to UK customers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The products are held in the UK \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for example at an Amazon warehouse \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and are then dispatched to customers. Many of these foreign retailers do not pay VAT by not declaring the value of their goods, using false VAT numbers, or failing to register for VAT at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While companies such as Amazon or eBay are ultimately not responsible for the mass VAT fraud happening under their watch \u00e2\u20ac\u201c HMRC is \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the committee last night slammed Amazon and eBay for not taking steps they could easily take to stop it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In fact, the US tech giants benefit from the system by the commission they make from these foreign retailers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Evading of tax\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe by-product of both Amazon and eBay and other online marketplaces is that you are profiting from the evading of tax by these overseas sellers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Labour MP Caroline Flint.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are talking about billions of pounds of VAT being lost to HMRC and therefore being lost to the UK, and the putting out of business legitimate firms that are playing by the rules.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The committee heard from Richard Allen of Retailers Against VAT Abuse Schemes, whose own business was shut down because of VAT-evading foreign retailers using online marketplaces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOnce we started being seriously affected by this, we lasted maybe two years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Allen said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBy that point, it was unsustainable \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we simply had to close.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the process, he had to lay off 10 staff.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTwenty per cent is a large sum,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf competitors are avoiding the 20 per cent you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t compete.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bit like a landlord allowing customers to use their pub to sell stolen goods so they can sell more beer,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen UK retailers going out of business after their sales have been decimated by foreign companies undercutting them through VAT fraud. One firm saw their sales fall from \u00c2\u014190,000 to \u00c2\u014120,000 in just a month.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Allen presented an item to the committee that he bought through Amazon from a retailer in China which itself has admitted that it does not pay VAT.<\/p>\n

The item was even gift-wrapped by Amazon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Representatives from Amazon and eBay, Steve Dishman, Amazon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vice-president for taxes and Joe Billante, chief financial officer for the European arm of eBay, said they do take action and have plans to do more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI do not want these sellers on our platform,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Billante said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf anyone is not compliant and we are notified, we take action.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And Dishman noted that Amazon recognises that there is \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba proportion of bad actors.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe would like all bad actors off our platform,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not doing enough<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But campaigning website VATFraud.org<\/a> argues that neither the companies nor HMRC are doing enough, despite there being laws and structures in place enabling them to do so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The site found that thousands of non-compliant foreign retailers continue to trade three years after they were reported to the HMRC.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The revelation that more than a billion each year is lost in tax revenue from foreign retailers using online marketplaces comes just as Amazon has faced criticism for tax avoidance in its own right.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2016, Amazon paid only \u00c2\u014115m in tax through Luxembourg on its European revenue of \u00c2\u014119.5bn. And Amazon UK Services, Amazon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s UK warehouse and logistics operation, halved its tax bill from \u00c2\u014115.8m to \u00c2\u01417.4m between 2015 and 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner slammed companies such as Amazon and eBay for not doing their part to stop tax fraud.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOf course they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to take serious steps to tackle VAT fraud \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they benefit from this system themselves,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe cannot trust them to do the right thing when they also take whatever steps they can to pay as little tax as possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is astounding that each year more than billion pounds is lost to VAT fraud from foreign online retailers alone \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s enough to fund 26,000 nurses for a year. In an age of austerity, this is unacceptable.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTaxpayers and small businesses deserve better \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we call on the government to take decisive action and force online marketplaces such as Amazon to collect VAT on all of their sellers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 behalf. The only way the likes of Amazon and eBay will do the right thing is if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re forced to.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turner also called for greater investment in HMRC, which itself has borne the brunt of austerity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOver the last 10 years, HMRC staffing levels has nearly halved,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey need to be properly resourced to do their jobs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c something that Labour has specifically pledged in its manifesto.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Online retail giants such as Amazon and eBay are turning a blind eye to massive tax fraud happening under their watch \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to the tune of more than \u00c2\u01411bn a year.   Foreign retailers selling their wares through Amazon or eBay are said to be evading between \u00c2\u01411bn and \u00c2\u01411.5bn a year in VAT \u00e2\u20ac\u201c […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[799,237,798],"wps_subtitle":"Retail giants turn blind eye","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13424,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13422\/revisions\/13424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}