Facebook paid over £4 million in UK tax over the last 12 months on profits of around £20 million, which marks a huge increase over its previous contributions.
According to the BBC, the company made just over £20 million in taxable profit on the business it booked through its UK subsidiary last year, which was on turnover of £210 million.
While it might not sound like a large tax bill in comparison to revenues, it’s some 96,000% more than it paid the previous year, in which it paid just £4,327. A change in the way it reports business was enacted in April this year, effectively ensuring that the company pays regular tax rates in the UK, rather than routing all its largest business customers through Ireland to pay lower tax.
The switch came about after public outcry and closer government scrutiny of large US companies that paid lower than expected taxes due to the complex corporate structures in place. Indeed, in eBay’s latest filing, it revealed it paid just £1.1 million in tax last year from global revenues of $1.4 bilion (£1.1 billion). It said just £185 million of those revenues came from its business in the UK, but also described Britain as its second largest market, according to The Guardian.
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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.
