Facebook paid £4,327 UK corporation tax in 2014

kjl · 12-10-2015 04:13PM #1

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34504474

Is this actually a joke? They basically used corporate loophole by paying employee bonuses so they could declare a 28 million pre tax less.

I think it's time that corporations stop getting a free ride in Europe, it's an utter joke that I have to play 52% of my salary in taxes when these corporations are getting off scot free.

Put this in perspective, I payed about 5 times what Facebook did in taxes in 2014.

strelok · 12-10-2015 04:14PM

how many hundreds of people do you employ?

AnonoBoy · 12-10-2015 04:14PM

Well it's more than you paid in UK corporation tax I'll bet!

ColeTrain · 12-10-2015 04:17PM

Facebook paid out billions last year when people 'liked' pictures of Syrian children and other stuff like that!

Easy man, go easy on them.

OneOfThem · 12-10-2015 04:23PM

Would the bonuses not be taxed through the normal people taxing dealy? So if Bob gets a £50,000 bonus he'll have to give 52% of that to the Queen or whatever?

(Yes, I am in fact a fully qualified taxician, as you can tell by my snappy use of taxy jargon and firm understanding of how these things work above.)

Son Of A Vidic · 12-10-2015 04:26PM

strelok wrote: »

how many hundreds of people do you employ?

Completely irrelevant since the level of employment and the economic return on same. Is completely out of sync with the billions in taxes they avoid paying.

kjl · 12-10-2015 04:28PM

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Well it's more than you paid in UK corporation tax I'll bet!

Well I consult in the UK, so actually it's less/

AnonoBoy · 12-10-2015 04:30PM

kjl wrote: »

Well I consult in the UK, so actually it's less/

Well aren't you the spoilsport?

callaway92 · 12-10-2015 04:32PM

Many companies pay barely any if any at all.

I'd love to know how much Apple/Facebook/Amazon/Google/Microsoft pay in Corporation Tax.

They hold the Government by puppet strings. They Government can't afford to lose them due to all of the potential job losses - Therefore if Apple say "we are upping ship and moving to India unless out corporation tax is reduced dramatically", the Government have no choice but to cave.

jamesbere · 12-10-2015 04:37PM

If we get 10000 likes Facebook will pay tax

darkpagandeath · 12-10-2015 04:37PM

strelok wrote: »

how many hundreds of people do you employ?

What's that got to do with tax obligations ?

darkpagandeath · 12-10-2015 04:39PM

ColeTrain wrote: »

Facebook paid out billions last year when people 'liked' pictures of Syrian children and other stuff like that!

Easy man, go easy on them.

Ah I see that's how it is, Instead of paying tax obligations. They use the money to tie themselves to the hot button issues and gather more revenue.

Saipanne · 12-10-2015 04:39PM

Some amount of manure in this thread.

12-10-2015 04:41PM

darkpagandeath wrote: »

What's that got to do with tax obligations ?

The fact the jobs they create are extremely important to Ireland and they need to be kept well onside if that means favorable tax rates then so be it.

darkpagandeath · 12-10-2015 04:42PM

Alfonso Mammoth Wisecrack wrote: »

The fact the jobs they create are extremely important to Ireland and they need to be kept well onside.

And again I will ask What does that have to do with Tax obligations ? EU is taking a very dim view of what's going on here. Already had to change the law.

davo2001 · 12-10-2015 04:43PM

kjl wrote: »

Well I consult in the UK, so actually it's less/

You recently commented in this thread "Have you ever lied on your C.V?" and admitted lying so sorry if i don't take you at face value ;-)

Duggy747 · 12-10-2015 05:01PM

Dear Facebook,

This is a formal notification to say that you are not allowed to take any of my personal information like what I ate for dinner and pictures with inspirational quotes.

I know this is a free service you provide to me and I post up all of my information at my own discretion that also ends up making me the product but, like, you know.............stop it.

I also hereby state that you must pay your taxes. Like, all of them.

Copy & Paste this to your status so that Facebook will be forced BY LAW to do what you say.

valoren · 12-10-2015 05:02PM

It's the morals of it.

So, yeah, your latest plan to generate revenue backfires and you lose out a couple of million.
The share price takes a hit and the company is valued a bit less but you don't pay taxes on a loss as that's immoral.

But, alternatively, the revenue generator make millions, the share price increase, but the taxman through some 'creative' accounting only get's £4,327.

whatismyname · 12-10-2015 05:02PM

I think I would like to work for facebook. I don't really understand why their average salary is quite so high.

Staff at Facebook’s UK arm took home an average of more than £210,000 last year in pay and bonuses

The share scheme was worth an average of more than £96,000 for each member of staff. Once salaries were taken into account, a British employee of Facebook received more than £210,000 on average.

http://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/oct/11/facebook-paid-4327-corporation-tax-despite-35-million-staff-bonuses

I don't really get the comparing the amount of corporation tax a company paid, with the amount of income tax an individual paid.

Like on http://www.itv.com/news/2015-10-11/facebook-pays-4-327-in-uk-corporation-tax/

£5,393 Amount of income tax and national insurance paid by a British worker on the average wage of £26,500
£4,327 Amount Facebook paid in UK corporation tax last year.

It's not comparing like with like. The amount of corporation tax a company pays (large corporation or otherwise) isn't really comparable with the amount of income tax an individual pays, and if they're going to use those as a comparision, then it surely should be acknowledging that facebook's employees will be paying (quite a lot of) income tax on their £210k salaries. So it's not like the tax man will actually be getting as little as £4.3k in tax from facebook's UK revenues.

Boring username · 12-10-2015 05:04PM

Rabble rabble 1% fat cats rabble water charges Mick Wallace rabble rabble Denis O Brien rabble rabble kill the rich.

Am I doing this right?

ArmaniJeanss · 12-10-2015 05:07PM

Presumably like any above board business they are paying to the taxman the ~20% VAT from all revenues that they are collecting from their sales regardless of profit/loss, and this figure dramatically dwarfs the tiny amount they are avoiding in corporation tax.
So its really not a big deal, no-one declares a profit if they can help it.

whatismyname · 12-10-2015 05:08PM

Ok, this is sh1t.

The analysis shows profits generated in the UK were sent to Facebook's international headquarters in Ireland, before being transferred to an account in the Cayman Islands, who do not collect corporation tax.

http://www.itv.com/news/2015-10-11/facebook-pays-4-327-in-uk-corporation-tax/

Last week the OECD unveiled new measures to stop large companies from exploiting loopholes in the international tax system.

The new rules will make it harder for Facebook, Google and Apple to shift profits and will force multinationals to disclose how much revenue they generate in each country.

Margaret Hodge, former chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, told the Daily Mail Facebook was 'still refusing to listen to the voice of public opinion' adding that the company was 'using elaborate corporate structures and artificial devices for no purpose other than to avoid tax'.

My name is URL · 12-10-2015 05:09PM

Boring username wrote: »

Rabble rabble 1% fat cats rabble water charges Mick Wallace rabble rabble Denis O Brien rabble rabble kill the rich.

Am I doing this right?

Being a low level troll? Yes, you're on the right track

suicide_circus · 12-10-2015 05:20PM

Well when you have corporations which now wield more power and influence than elected governments this is inevitable. Profit is king.

Zebra3 · 12-10-2015 05:28PM

The stupidity of people in thinking large scale tax avoidance by MNCs is acceptable or good is beyond belief.

whatismyname · 12-10-2015 05:32PM

Zebra3 wrote: »

The stupidity of people in thinking large scale tax avoidance by MNCs is acceptable or good is beyond belief.

Who are these people you are referring to?

(apart from the ones who are avoiding the large scale tax avoidance as obviously they'll think it's acceptable and good)

12-10-2015 05:34PM

Zebra3 wrote: »

The stupidity of people in thinking large scale tax avoidance by MNCs is acceptable or good is beyond belief.

The stupidity of people who think risking tens of thousands of jobs is a wise course of action (even if it is only a small risk) is beyond belief. Thankfully the powers that be know this and have no intention of any big increase in corporation tax and will fight any crap from Europe to the end.

Dyr · 12-10-2015 05:36PM

Alfonso Mammoth Wisecrack wrote: »

The stupidity of people who think risking tens of thousands of jobs is a wise course of action (even if it is only a small risk) is beyond belief. Thankfully the powers that be know this and have no intention of any big increase in corporation tax and will fight any crap from Europe to the end.

Facebook employs tens of thousands in the UK

Tax is for the little people is the message here, so fcuk that

Eugene Norman · 12-10-2015 05:37PM

If Facebook did in fact pay £210k per employee then it may not have had uk profits.

As for the transferring to Ireland and then to caymans, the former may not be an issue, the latter is.

The fact is that corporations pay corporate tax in their headquarters not where profits are made. Any other system would be nuts for smaller countries.

12-10-2015 05:39PM

Bambi wrote: »

Facebook employs tens of thousands in the UK

Tax is for the little people is the message here, so fcuk that

Multinationals in general and I'm talking about Ireland (even though I know this article refers to the UK).

A Primal Nut · 12-10-2015 05:40PM

Surely the important figure is how much Corporation Tax they paid globally? It's possible their UK operations could make a loss while their Irish or US operations made a profit, or example. Usually the likes of Facebook declare a lot of their profits in Ireland and losses elsewhere.

Facebook paid £4,327 UK corporation tax in 2014

Comments