We’ll hit Amazon next, says lawyer chasing Uber over £1bn unpaid VAT
AMAZON could become embroiled in a legal challenge over unpaid tax on billions of pounds of products.
The independent Good Law Project says the retailer should be responsible for passing VAT to Revenue & Customs, rather than leaving this to its suppliers.
Despite the fact that Amazon UK has a £2.35 billion-a-year turnover, many items on its site undercut those of other retailers as the price does not include VAT. This is because they are sold on Amazon marketplace, which it says it is a portal for other retailers. And firms with a turnover of less than £85,000 a year do not have to add VAT of 20 per cent to goods sold.
Jolyon Maugham QC said he would raise cash from the public to fund the case if he won his battle with Uber – expected to hit the headlines again this week.
He says Uber has denied the authorities more than £1 billion in Value Added Tax and has brought a judicial review against the Revenue for failing to collect the money.
Uber has argued it is just a ‘platform’ on which drivers can book fares, rather than a transport firm, and is therefore not liable to collect VAT, a claim that Maugham describes as ‘palpable nonsense’.
He said: ‘Tech companies need roads to deliver their products. They need the legal system to protect their intellectual property rights. They need a stable political environment. They need an educated workforce.
‘All of these things cost money, but they are not prepared to contribute to those costs.’
A Revenue spokesperson said it was ‘simply untrue to suggest there were major inaccuracies’ in the way it applied tax rules to online firms. An Uber spokeswoman said: ‘We will always fulfil the tax obligations in any country in which we operate.’
Amazon said it had introduced simple tools to allow the sellers on its site to register and report VAT.