Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) revealed on Thursday that its UK corporation tax bill almost halved to £4.5mln last year, down from £7.4mln in 2016 despite a near-trebling of profits.
The revelation came just days after the US online retail giant posted a record profit of US$2.5bn in its latest quarterly results.
READ: Amazon crushes 2Q analyst earnings estimates but falls short on revenue
In its annual financial filing to Companies House, Amazon said last year it paid only £1.7mln in tax on its profits, having received a credit of £1.3mln from the UK authorities in 2016.
Amazon's UK operating profit in 2017 increased to £79mln, up from around £26mln in the previous year.
Amazon Services UK - the division that runs the warehouses that process, package and post deliveries to UK customers - reported turnover as a charge to its US-based parent company, apparently for the cost of delivering products, of £1.98bn in 2017.
The BBC News website reported that one reason for the lower tax bill was a rise in share-based payments for staff.
Amazon Services UK paid out £54.8mln in share awards, compared with £36.7m in 2016, the BBC said. It employs more than two-thirds of the 27,000-strong UK workforce.