http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... oiders-mps



Never mind the missing billions, what about a percentage that can be 'selective and misleading' for public consumption, eh? Eh?

Scumbags.

HMRC are to blame?

So they aren't given a directive when government ministers have meetings with the heads of multinational companies, offering tax incentives in exchange for them building their factories/distribution warehouses in the UK?

We can whine all we want, the likes of Amazon will keep playing the corporate non-domicile game, shifting their business base to wherever guarantees the least tax.

That depends on what you mean by the word 'business', doesn't it? In Amazon UK's case, for example, the 'business' as in the legal offices of the company are in the RoI. But the 'business' as in the act of buying, selling and and delivering goods, happens very much within the UK.

The could in theory move the former to anywhere within the EU (I think) without changing very much legally. However if they want to move all of the latter out of the UK, they're going to see something of a drop in their financial performance.

They are also outgunned when it comes to funding to take cases to court or challenging the accountants.

I think Amazon sell e-books from Luxembourg and pay 8% VAT there yet charge 20% VAT to UK customers and pocket the difference. That needs to stop.