The world’s largest social network, Facebook, paid just £4,327 in UK corporation tax last year.
That’s despite paying its UK staff – comprised of 362 employees – a total of £35.4 million in share bonuses.
Those bonuses work out to a £96,000 average for each UK Facebook employee.
We should note that Facebook formally filed a pre-tax loss of £28.5 million in 2014.
The BBC notes that the average UK salary is £26,500, a wage that results in income tax and national insurance contributions amounting to £5,392.80 yearly.
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Facebook’s global Q4 profits last year were £462 million, which is up 34% year on year.
The total profits for the whole year, meanwhile, were $2.9 billion (£1.9bn) globally.
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“Taxpayers will be justifiably confused and angry about this tax bill,” explains John O’Connell, director of the Taxpayer’s Alliance. “But Facebook is right to say that it is complying with UK law, which shows that the problem lies with our complex tax code, and that is what politicians should address as a matter of urgency.”
O’Connell adds: “We have to ensure our taxes are simple to eliminate loopholes, and that taxes are low to increase our competitiveness, so that companies choose to base themselves here.”
Do you think Facebook should pony up more cash to the UK’s coffers? Let us know in the comments.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
