London - Facebook paid £1 000 less in tax to the UK government than the average British worker in 2014, yet the total paid in bonuses to its employees more than doubled to £35m.
The company reported a loss of £28.4m in the UK last year, but its parent company in the US saw profits double to £2.9bn.
Facebook UK’s loss allowed it to minimise its corporate tax bill for the year to just £4 327, despite its reported revenue doubling to just under £105m, up from £49.8m.
A worker earning the average British salary of £26 500 would have paid £5 393 in combined income tax and national insurance. The loss in its accounts, published last week, was a result of the soaring cost of wages and benefits for its 362 British staff, who received share-based benefits of £35.4m, on top of an average basic wage of £112 718.
The tax figure is likely to increase pressure on Facebook UK over the low level of tax it pays each year - following two years when it paid no tax at all to the UK government.
Facebook said this weekend it was “compliant with UK tax law and in fact all countries where we have employees and offices”.
THE INDEPENDENT