UK Chancellor John Healey is expected to use this month’s Budget to make online marketplaces including Amazon, eBay and Temu collect VAT for every seller with more than £90,000 in annual sales, according to The Times. Marketplaces already collect VAT for overseas sellers, but foreign retailers have been registering UK shell companies to get around that rule. The Treasury expects the change to bring in about £1 billion and would use it to cut business rates for high street shops, after Healey reportedly dropped a warehouse tax that retailers opposed. Amazon and eBay back the plan, but Amazon estimates it would raise closer to £700 million. Tax Policy Associates founder Dan Neidle said the shell companies will find another way around the rules unless marketplaces collect VAT on every sale.
