Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many fulfilment houses had stock seized by HMRC in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Bates
In the last 12 months HMRC has seized stock from 9 fulfilment houses.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether HMRC obtain data on the amount of goods that non-UK sellers on Amazon and eBay import into the UK; and if so, whether they reconcile that data with declared sales.
Answered by Lord Bates
HMRC cannot disclose details about named companies. HMRC expects intermediaries to give data to the department voluntarily upon request, and has statutory powers to require production of data where necessary.
HMRC uses data from intermediaries to identify cases where there is a risk that the taxpayer has failed to report, or has under-reported, their liability.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they treat Amazon as being in the supply chain for VAT purposes in cases where an overseas seller using its full facilities, including warehousing, advertising, taking payment, delivering, customer refunds and questions, evades VAT; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Bates
Under EU law, for an online marketplace such as Amazon to be part of a supply chain for VAT purposes, it would need to take ownership of the goods in question and sell them on its own behalf.
At Budget 2016 the government introduced a new provision that allows HMRC to make online marketplaces jointly and severally liable for the unpaid VAT of their non-EU sellers.