Facebook paid 4.2 million pounds in UK corporation tax last year

After the debacle of Facebook’s 2014 UK tax records – it had only paid about 4000 pounds – Facebook has now paid 4.2 million pounds to the British tax authorities. Since 1 April 2016, Facebook has ceased to route advertising sales through Ireland, which will most likely lead to a large increase in tax paid to UK authorities this year. Still, Richard Murphy, professor and the City University of London, claims that it is difficult to ensure that Facebook is paying the right amount of tax, as its accounts ‘are an exercise in opacity when what we really need is transparency’. Skepticism has also arisen due to the decision of the tax authorities to award them a tax credit of 11.3 million pounds, ‘which it can use to cut its future bills from HM Revenue and Customs’.