Newsflash: Amazon and eBay aren’t paying their fair share of tax. But you already knew that, right?

However, a new report has revealed overseas retailers are using the online marketplaces to sell their products in the UK -- flouting British VAT laws to the tune of £1.5 billion last year.

The National Audit Office says it’s the responsibility of Amazon and Ebay to make sure foreign sellers include 20% VAT on their products.

With almost a fifth of retail sales now online, we need to step up the pressure on the online retail giants and make sure sellers using their marketplace pay their share.

Amazon and eBay: remove sellers from your marketplace if they flout VAT laws!

Last year, almost 17% of retail transactions in the UK took place online -- with the number rising year on year. That means the longer we let this problem go on, the more costly it becomes.

Amazon has already come under criticism for using loopholes to avoid paying corporation tax in the UK, while eBay paid only £1.1 million tax on over £1.1 billion in revenues in Britain last year. The companies take advantage of our publicly funded healthcare, education, security and infrastructure -- then refuse to pay back into the system. That doesn’t sound fair to me.

Meg Hillier from the public accounts committee said, “This is a double whammy for taxpayers. Overseas sellers who avoid VAT undercut the prices charged by small, law-abiding British businesses, hitting British jobs.”

Over 130,000 SumOfUs members like you signed our global campaign to make Google pay its tax -- forcing the company to rethink its policy. Now we need to come together again and tell Amazon and Ebay to drop these sellers unless they pay their taxes.

The responsibility lies with you, Amazon and eBay -- make sure your sellers conform to British laws or remove them from your stores!

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