A London school teacher pays more UK tax than Facebook

[Syt]

http://qz.com/285380/a-london-school-teacher-pays-more-uk-tax-than-facebook/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeX-SzAICdw

A London school teacher pays more UK tax than Facebook

Facebook's corporation tax in the United Kingdom for 2013 came to a grand total of £3,169 ($4,005). The company also received £185,196 in credits from previous years, leaving it with a credit balance of £182,027, according to documents filed with Companies House on Tuesday, Oct. 21.

The income tax paid by an inner London school teacher on the minimum starting salary of £27,543 comes to over £3,500.

Facebook reported turnover of £49.85 million, with a gross profit of £49.28 million. But some pesky "administrative expenses" piled up and came in at £60.9 million, largely due to stock-based compensation for its employees. Facebook employed 208 people in the UK at the end of 2013—and each one pays more personal tax than the company.



How does such a large, well-oiled and—in the US at least—profitable company manage to erase its entire profit for tax purposes? With the help of very good, very expensive lawyers. According to the Evening Standard, citing figures from eMarketer, Facebook made some £371 million in revenues in the UK last year, but booked most of those sales in Ireland, where corporate tax rates are among the lowest in Europe.

Large companies can use a complicated structure known as the "double-Irish" to move cash around various countries until the effective tax rate comes close to zero.

The actions of companies such as Facebook, Google, and Apple, among others, have attracted the ire of both local and European regulators and politicians. The European Commission has recently made noises about investigating the tax dealings of Apple and Amazon, among others, and Ireland has promised to phase out its loopholes (though not everyone believes it). In the meantime, however, residents of Britain—and much of Europe—can pat themselves on the back and feel wryly smug about contributing more to their country's operations than some of the biggest companies in the world.
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Facebook declined to comment.

[The Brain]

The ire of rulemakers when people just follow the rules they themselves set up doesn't seem entirely mature.

[Syt]

The ire of rulemakers when people just follow the rules they themselves set up doesn't seem entirely mature.

I presume they are just upset that they don't get their cut.

[Brazen]

I bet this teacher pays more tax than most corporations:

A headteacher of a primary school is being paid more than £200,000 a year – taking her earnings above those of the prime minister.

Isabel Ramsay's salary and pension package at Bandon Hill Primary School in Wallington, south-west London, comes to £205,076, – dwarfing David Cameron's £142,500.

She even out-earns her boss, Niall Bolger, chief executive of Sutton Council, who brings in £192,108 a year.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/24/headteacher-whose-salary-is-60k-more-than-the-prime-minister-4919439/

[Tamas]

The UK should learn from the current Hungarian government: when there is a sector which performs better than lukewarm (although Facebook UK doesn't seem to be like that), they issue a special tax on it to rake in all the profits themselves.

It is a true triumph of socialism.

[The Brain]

Socialism sounds great. Can I learn more somewhere?

[Martinus]

Socialism sounds great. Can I learn more somewhere?

When the UK leaves the EU, Hungary gets kicked out of the EU and Tamas gets deported, you will be able to hire him as a tour guide for Hungarian socialism at an affordable market rate of two beets per hour.

[The Brain]

Tampax will be caught beetween a rock and a hard place.

[Jacob]

Are you guys seriously suggesting that Facebook's UK tax bill is a reasonable outcome?

[grumbler]

Are you guys seriously suggesting that Facebook's UK tax bill is a reasonable outcome?

Of course not.  "Gross Profit" can't be presented before costs are even considered, since profits are revenue minus costs.  It's a moronic graph.

[Admiral Yi]

If they operated at a loss for the year, I don't see why they're paying any tax at all.

[Grey Fox]

If they operated at a loss for the year, I don't see why they're paying any tax at all.

The issue is that it's all fake.

[alfred russel]

Are you guys seriously suggesting that Facebook's UK tax bill is a reasonable outcome?

Of course not.  "Gross Profit" can't be presented before costs are even considered, since profits are revenue minus costs.  It's a moronic graph.

Gross profit is the measure of revenue less costs of goods sold, while other expenses and gains and losses contribute to net income.

It isn't a moronic graph, it just requires a bit of knowledge of financial terms.

[grumbler]

Are you guys seriously suggesting that Facebook's UK tax bill is a reasonable outcome?

Of course not.  "Gross Profit" can't be presented before costs are even considered, since profits are revenue minus costs.  It's a moronic graph.

Gross profit is the measure of revenue less costs of goods sold, while other expenses and gains and losses contribute to net income.

It isn't a moronic graph, it just requires a bit of knowledge of financial terms.

[grumbler]

If they operated at a loss for the year, I don't see why they're paying any tax at all.

The issue is that it's all fake.

All high finance is "fake."  No actual currency is changing hands.