Wednesday newspaper round-up: VAT, Apple, Shell

Tax officials have launched a crackdown on VAT evasion by overseas online retailers amid claims that Amazon and eBay have been “collaborating” with them to defraud the exchequer of large sums. The Treasury said HM Revenue & Customs was gathering intelligence on this particular scam, adding that it was devoting 25 per cent of its customs and international trade effort to tackling import fraud. – Financial Times

Apple has amended its corporate bylaws to allow shareholders to nominate new board members, making it the latest in a string of US companies to introduce a measure that offers greater control to investors. The issue of so-called proxy access has gone from a fringe issue to mainstream practice in just two years, as major institutional investors including BlackRock and T Rowe Price and many of the largest US pension funds have demanded improved shareholder rights. – Financial Times

Shell is planning to slash $7bn (£4.7bn) of costs, $8bn of investment and 10,300 jobs in the next two years if shareholders approve its plan to buy BG, the energy giant has vowed. Regulators around the world have given the green light to the £35bn deal, but bosses still have to win over some sceptical investors which includes promising larger than previously expected savings from the deal. – Telegraph

More than half of Phones4u’s former stores remain empty just over a year after the mobile phone retailer went bust. Nearly 270 of the chain’s 554 stores remain empty, with outlets in Yorkshire, Wales and the east of England worst affected. – Guardian

Opposition politicians and tax campaigners have expressed outrage after it emerged that some of the biggest and most profitable investment banks in the City of London paid little or no corporation tax last year. Seven City banks paid a combined £21m in corporation tax in 2014, according to research by Reuters on Tuesday. Between them the banks, together employing about 33,000 mainly City workers, generated UK profits of £3.6bn on revenues of £21bn in the UK. – Guardian

Fortysomething men wanting to ride bikes like Steve McQueen is helping the leading British motorcycling manufacturer to roar back into the black. Triumph, which employs 800 in Britain, reported pre-tax profits of £2.3 million on sales of £341 million in the year to the end of June. Last year it made a loss of £8 million. – The Times