Amazon UK Services revealed that it paid £18.7 million in “current tax” last year, which is understood to have been largely corporation tax.

The retail giant received a £7.8m tax credit in 2022 and a £1.1m credit in 2021 after its investments in infrastructure, including robotic equipment at its warehouses, benefited from the former Prime Minister’s measure, introduced when he was chancellor.

Amazon UK said its other UK entities paid an undisclosed amount of current tax in 2022 and 2023. The firm said its British businesses made sales of £27bn in 2023, a rise from £24bn in 2022.  The firm now accumulates more than double the sales of the traditional retailer Marks & Spencer in the UK, but pays less than double the tax, the Guardian reports.

Total tax on profit paid by Amazon UK Services was £81.3m in 2023, an increase from the £66.4m paid a year before, as sales rose almost 5% to £6.9bn and pre-tax profits increased 13% to £250.7m.

Overall, Amazon’s full UK operation paid £932m in tax last year, up from £781m the year before.