Hora – most operating costs are actual costs incurred (usually deductible if wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade) so you seem to think they’re also partaking in fraud?
My original point is that saying a company made £x bn revenue and only paid £x m corporation tax is too simplistic and sounds like tabloid press headlines…
It’s pretty clear that they (like many other companies) are operating through headquarters in a low corporation tax jurisdiction and organise their affairs to minimise the overall tax payable (which is probably not that much anyway in the case of Amazon). It’s pretty hard for the UK to close up international loopholes though and if they’re creating lots of jobs in the UK (and paying UK payroll taxes) I doubt any government would be worrying too much about that.
Aggressive tax avoidance is another thing altogether and the general anti avoidance rule should help reduce it… (IME, rich individuals are the most likely to chance their arm at avoiding tax)