It comes on the same day that a report by MPs criticised an agreement for the firm to pay £130m in United Kingdom taxes to cover the last ten years – saying the amount seemed “disproportionately small”.
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Today the PAC says that the “UK is a key market for Google but the enormous profit derived is out of reach of the UK’s tax system”, and calls the corporation’s argument that sales to United Kingdom clients take place in Ireland “deeply unconvincing”.
HMRC, which carried out a six-year investigation into Google, said it was the “full tax due in law”, while the Chancellor hailed the deal as “a major success”.
“Google’s stated desire for greater tax simplicity and transparency is at odds with the complex operational structure it has created which appears to be directed at minimising its tax liabilities”.
Britain is revising its global tax rules.
Google generated around 24 billion pounds of revenue in Britain between 2005 and 2015 – the period covered by the settlement.
Hillier, a lawmaker for the main opposition Labour party, added: “Whether you call it secrecy or confidentiality, this lack of transparency does nothing to build confidence that big corporations are paying their fair share of tax”.
But the Public Accounts Committee said Wednesday it is not possible to say whether the deal was fair to taxpayers.
Ms Hillier said: ” HMRC itself has identified that the current penalty regime treats corporations differently from individual taxpayers.
A French official told Reuters: “As far as our country is concerned, back taxes concerning this company amount to €1.6bn”.
She took a top Google executive to task on the issue earlier this month as he gave evidence to the committee’s inquiry, accusing Matt Brittin of “living on a different planet to most of our constituents” as he defended the bill.
He said the £130m figure was “the conclusion of a six-year rigorous, independent tax audit in which we are paying tax at 20% like every other United Kingdom company”.
MPs called for reforms punishing businesses for failing to pay tax to be introduced swiftly.
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‘The rules are changing internationally and the United Kingdom government is taking the lead in applying those rules so we’ll be changing what we are doing here’.
