Ebay dodges UK taxes to the tune of £50m
The popular auction site, eBay has only paid £1.2m in taxes in the UK, according to an investigation by the Sunday Times.
The tax bill comes in spite of eBay generating sales of £800m.
This report comes just days after coffee giant Starbucks was accused of paying as little as £8.6m in corporation tax in the UK over the past 14 years.
According to the Sunday Times, eBay had sales of £789m during 2010 in the UK at its four subsidiaries in the UK. Working from eBay’s worldwide profit margin of 23%, it would have made £181m in profits, resulting in a tax bill of £51m.
Instead, it paid £1.2m, the report said.
The auction site told the BBC: "eBay in Europe works with tax authorities and complies fully with all applicable tax laws and regimes - including national, EU, and internationally recognised OECD rules."
Foreign firms' use of savvy accounting techniques to legally avoid paying tax in Britain has provoked fury among politicians and consumers.
Other U.S. firms including Facebook and Google are known to use similarly complex methods of moving money out of Britain and into countries with lower tax rates.
The Public Accounts Committee are set to question the head of HM Revenue & Customs over the kinds of methods being used by foreign firms to legally avoid paying UK tax at a parliamentary hearing next month.
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