Facebook published its 2017 accounts in the UK, showing that its tax bill had risen to £17m after it had changed its structure to book more revenues onshore. However, as Taxwatch director George Turner told the Independent, Facebook’s real profits in the UK are likely to be much higher.
UK ministers have praised five of the UK’s Overseas Territories for searchable registers revealing who really owns companies registered there. TaxWatch has found that one of these new registers doesn’t even exist, and others have erected last-minute legal blocks against access.
Stronger powers against ‘enablers’ – those who design and enable aggressive tax avoidance and evasion – are back on the table once again. But new figures show that existing powers are still not being used.