‘Google pays no tax on 1.6 bn pound earning in UK’

Google legally avoided paying more than 450 million pound in corporation tax to HM Revenue & Customs in 2008,as it diverted all its advertising earnings from customers in Britain to its Irish subsidiary,the newspaper said.

Citing accounts filed with the Companies House in the past week,the daily said,”Google’s 2008 UK corporation tax bill amounted to just 141,519 pound — and that was tax on the interest generated by its cash pile in UK bank deposits.”

Vince Cable,the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats,has urged Google to “pay its fair share” of tax.

“Google¿s reputation will be severely damaged if it continues to behave in this way. It is ducking its social responsibility,” Cable told the Sunday Times.

Cable further added that “avoidance like this is hard to stomach at the best of times. But when the country is in recession and everyone is feeling the pain,it really sticks in the throat it means higher taxes for the rest of us”.

Google,however,said its structure complies fully with UK tax rules and that the company makes a “substantial” contribution to tax receipts wherever it operates.