AWS tops up the Bezos rocket fund thanks to more money from Brit tax collection agency
- Reference: 1613734205
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/02/19/aws_hmrc_contracts/
- Source link:
According to documents just published by government, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs handed a [2]£41m two-year deal to AWS EMEA Sarl UK from 1 September 2020 for "hyper scale compute cloud service provision".
[3]
It is understood this latest agreement, a G-Cloud call-off contract, was penned before AWS put its name to the One Government Value Agreement (OGVA), a three-year Memorandum of Understanding between the company and public-sector procurement agency Crown Commercial Services (CCS). Under this, AWS sells services with a pre-defined discount.
Google, IBM, HPE, Microsoft, and UKCloud are also part of the OGVA, which is supposed to offer government buyers better pricing.
[4]
UK taxman waves through £168.8m Fujitsu contract because no one else can hold up 30-year-old infrastructure [5]READ MORE
In addition, HMRC has awarded a [6]£2m contract to AWS EMEA Sarl UK's Professional Services wing, again for two years. This involves the provision of consultants that will work on speeding up the adoption of AWS products and services. This started in August and ends 31 July 2022.
The UK government has a bewildering array of procurement frameworks, developed and run by CCS, which takes a 1 per cent commission on all public-sector spending. We asked the Cabinet Office if it has a record on the amount of money British taxpayers pay to the company.
We were pointed toward the website of one component, the [7]G-Cloud , which stated that in the prior three financial years ending 31 March 20201, some £166.7m was spent by the public sector with Amazon Web Services EMEA Sarl; some £67.61m was spent with Amazon Web Services Inc; and £3.09m with Amazon Web Services Ltd. The Reg must reemphasise this is only spending with Amazon via GCloud.
In addition to HMRC, AWS has also won contracts with the [8]Home Office , the [9]Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the NHS , and [10]more .
The company has attracted ire from certain corners in recent years over its hyper-tax-efficient processes. For example, in 2019 it emerged HMRC had spent £11m with the company in the prior year, which was [11]six times more than the amount it received in corporation tax from AWS.
Then last year, the company [12]caught the attention of the Fair Tax Mark campaign and Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge over the amount of tax AWS had continued to pay to HMRC.
[13]
AWS – and many other businesses with efficient practices – is operating within its legal boundaries. The global tax system needs shaking up, as many have pointed out. But, as we've said before, that still doesn't make tax avoidance ethical. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2019/01/09/amazon_public_policy_exec_tax_data_dominance/
[2] https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2021/W07/745078884
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_datacentre/cloud&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YC-uqRtpl9VUTllI2x-gwwAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_datacentre/cloud&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YC-uqRtpl9VUTllI2x-gwwAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/13/fujitsu_hmrc_contract/
[6] https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2021/W07/745078936
[7] https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNTEyMTZhZDAtZGNiNi00OWQxLWI5ODYtMjg1ZWNlMmNkODVhIiwidCI6IjlmOGMwZDc5LTNlODctNGNkMy05Nzk5LWMzNDQzMTQ2ZWE1ZSIsImMiOjh9
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/10/home_office_hands_aws_100m_for_public_cloud_services/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2019/08/06/aws_doubles_uk_footprint_sits_review/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/17/aws_dwp/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2019/06/11/aws_uk_tax_cloud/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/18/amazon_uk_results/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_datacentre/cloud&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YC-uqRtpl9VUTllI2x-gwwAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: "that still doesn't make tax avoidance ethical"
CEOs are not there to be ethical - they exist to "maximise shareholder value". As long as that situation is not changed, there is no amount of laws that will force a CEO to things ethically.
[Citation needed], because UK Law does not actually say that. UK Law says (under section 172 of the Companies act 2006)
Duty to promote the success of the company
(1)A director of a company must act in the way he considers, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole, and in doing so have regard (amongst other matters) to—
(a)the likely consequences of any decision in the long term,
(b)the interests of the company's employees,
(c)the need to foster the company's business relationships with suppliers, customers and others,
(d)the impact of the company's operations on the community and the environment,
(e)the desirability of the company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct, and
(f)the need to act fairly as between members of the company.
(2)Where or to the extent that the purposes of the company consist of or include purposes other than the benefit of its members, subsection (1) has effect as if the reference to promoting the success of the company for the benefit of its members were to achieving those purposes.
(3)The duty imposed by this section has effect subject to any enactment or rule of law requiring directors, in certain circumstances, to consider or act in the interests of creditors of the company.
Now, Could you explain where that requires a director to "maximise shareholder value"? I'm not seeing that requirement anywhere.
It appears to be (at least as so far as the UK is concerned) a complete fabrication with the intention of providing a fig leaf of an excuse to defend behaviour that is indefensible. (you know, "the law makes me do it", despite the law not actually requiring anything of the sort!)
It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it
"In addition, HMRC has awarded a £2m contract to AWS EMEA Sarl UK's Professional Services wing, again for two years. This involves the provision of consultants that will work on speeding up the adoption of AWS products and services."
So HMRC are paying Amazon to tell them what other Amazon products they should buy.
What could possibly go wrong?
"that still doesn't make tax avoidance ethical"
Obviously not, but unfortunately ethical and legal are two different things.
CEOs are not there to be ethical - they exist to "maximise shareholder value". As long as that situation is not changed, there is no amount of laws that will force a CEO to things ethically.
The only thing that can have an impact is public image. That is why is critically important to continue flaying online any company that underpays its workers, does not keep bonus promises, does not provide a safe workplace, or sources components from child labor or slave labor conditions.
We, the citizens, are the last force to make CEOs comply to what we think is ethical.
If we don't do it with our voices, the law cannot do anything about it.