Facebook paid £5.1m in UK corporation tax last year
Social media giant Facebook’s UK tax bill rose to £5.1m in 2016 after it diverted much of its advertising income through the country from Ireland.
Facebook reported its UK tax payments for last year on Wednesday, saying its revenues in the UK rose to £842.4m from £210.8m, but its corporation tax paid only rose to £5.1m from £4.2m in the previous year.
Mark Zuckerberg’s firm published its accounts as the European Commission cracks down further on other major US tech companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon.
"Last April, we actively chose to reorganise our company structure to record revenues from our large UK sales customers in the UK," a Facebook spokesperson said.
We believed this would provide greater transparency on our operations in London and be easier for people to understand. These accounts reflect that change."
Facebook has significantly increased its presence in the UK over the last year, opening a new London headquarters and employing more than 1,000 staff.