Facebook
paid its average British worker £237,000 last year - more than it has
paid in UK corporation tax in the last three years combined.
The
company sparked fury today after receiving a £182,000 credit from the
taxman despite sales hitting a record high of £50million.
The social networking giant funnels much of its revenues through Ireland, which whittles down its British tax bill.
In the spotlight: Facebook's tax bill has come under scrutiny after it racked up £50m of sales but got a rebate
For
2013, Facebook reported sales of £50million, but registered a loss of
£11.6million after its expenses almost doubled to £61millon.
Despite
paying £185,196 in corporation tax in 2011, it was last year repaid the
exact same sum by HMRC after making a financial loss, accounts
published today.
That
means that during the year the company got a £182,027 credit from the
taxman – as its rebate comfortably more than wiped out its tax charge of
just £3,169.
Because
Facebook made the £11.6million loss, under accounting rules the company
is able to claim back any tax it paid in the past three years.
It means that last year was the second year in a row that the firm didn’t pay any corporation tax in the UK.
But analysts say its business is far more profitable than it makes out.
Research
firm eMarketer estimates Facebook’s UK sales were more than £370million
– which would see the company register a profit of more than
£310million and liable to pay more than £65million in corporation tax to
HMRC.
Lucrative: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has delivered a small fortune to many of his staff
Facebook’s wage bill for its 172 staff, most of whom work in its Euston office, was last year £40.8million.
Around £15.5million of this came from the cost of ‘share-based payments’ to employees.
Around 60 of these employees were ‘technical’, understood to be software engineers, while 82 are involved in advertising sales.
Staff at the social networking giant receive free shares in the company.
Last
year they were handed around 1.5million free Facebook shares, which are
worth £73million at the current Wall Street share price of $78 a share.
Andy
Silvester at the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: ‘Taxpayers will be
understandably angry at what looks like a company not paying their fair
share, but the real villain of the piece is our complicated tax code.
‘Politicians
have loaded it up with so many loopholes and tax breaks that it's no
surprise well-paid accountants can negotiate it for their clients.
‘Until
politicians summon up the courage to radically simplify and reform our
17,000-page tax system, this will - regrettably - keep happening.’
Facebook refused to comment on the figures, but has previously insisted that it pays all of its taxes where they are due.
George Osborne has pledged to clamp down on US multinationals that do not pay their taxes.
He said: ‘If you abuse our tax system, you abuse the trust of the British people.
‘And my message to those companies is clear - we will put a stop to it.’
After
coming under enormous international pressure, Ireland has pledged to
abolish a controversial measure that lets firms funnel billions into
offshore havens.
The
move could see companies such as Google and Apple that use the
notorious ‘Double Irish’ loophole forced to pay back millions of pounds.
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