Seven large technology firms dodged around £2 billion in UK tax in 2021, according to a new report campaign group TaxWatch.

The companies, which include Cisco, Meta, Alphabet and Amazon made around £15 billion in profit from UK customers in 2021. But TaxWatch said they managed to move this profit out of the UK, leaving them liable for taxes of around £753 million.

TaxWatch said Amazon had UK revenues of around £23 billion in 2021 and profits of £1.9 billion which suggests they should pay around £359 million in tax. TaxWatch estimates the company avoided paying around £308 million during 2021 in UK corporation tax as Amazon claimed various losses and expenses.

When approached for comment by TaxWatch, the companies which responded said that they had complied with their tax responsibilities in the jurisdictions in which they operate.

Responding to the claims, a spokesperson for Amazon told TaxWatch: “The conclusions of this research are inaccurate and based on several incorrect assumptions. During 2021, our international consumer business was loss-making, so ascribing a global operating margin to the UK business is not appropriate. We disclosed last year that our total tax contribution in the UK was £2.77 billion during 2021 – £648 million in direct taxes and £2.13 billion in indirect taxes. When compared to the most recent PwC Total Tax Contribution survey of the 100 Group, Amazon ranks in the top 15 largest UK taxpayers for taxes borne and taxes collected.”

TaxWatch estimated that Alphabet, which runs search engine Google, had revenues of £12.5 billion in 2021 and should have paid taxes of around £836 million. However, it said that the last submitted accounts at Companies House were for 2014 so it is impossible to know how much, if any, tax Alphabet paid in the UK.

Alphabet did not respond to TaxWatch’s request for comment. A spokesperson for Cisco said the company did not wish to comment.

Responding to the allegations, a spokesperson for Meta said: “Over the last year we’ve continued to invest in the UK, including opening a new office campus in King’s Cross. While we paid $8.52 billion in corporation tax globally last year, and our average effective tax rate over the last decade was around 20 per cent, under current rules the vast majority of this is paid in the US. Although we pay the required level of taxes under international tax rules, we understand there’s frustration about how multinational companies are taxed and have long called for reform of the global tax system. We hope to see further progress towards implementing the OECD’s tax agreement which could mean companies like Meta paying more tax, and in different places.”

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