Facebook pays INFINITELY MORE UK corp tax than in 2012

Thanks for the £3k, Zuck. Doh! you're IN CREDIT. Guess not

Facebook has responded to critics who attacked the free content ad network for contributing exactly zero bucks to UK corporation tax in 2012, by dishing up a a tiny sum of just £3,000 to HM Revenue & Customs last year.

However, the £3,169 bill Facebook owed to the Treasury in 2013 was offset by tax credits – which in fact left it with £182,027 in tax credits based on adjustments for prior years.

According to documents filed (PDF) with Companies House and seen by The Register, Facebook made a pre-tax loss of £11.6m on turnover of £49.8m for the year ended 31 December 2013.

The Mark Zuckerberg-run data-processing giant, which controversially funnels most of its Blighty sales through Ireland to avoid hefty tax bills in the UK, did not offer a breakdown of revenue generated in the UK, where it has more than 24 million users.

However, the company – which said its "principal activity" in Britain involved "the provision of marketing and engineering support to the Facebook Group" – continued to throw cash at its London-based wing of the business.

Facebook UK Ltd's total staff headcount increased to 208 at the end of 2013, after it plumped up the firm's technical team.

Inevitably, as a result of hiring more engineers, the company's wage bill, including share-based payments, ballooned last year to £49.8m from £34.6m in 2012.

El Reg understands that Facebook UK continues to operate at a loss because of its growing workforce in Blighty.

Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chairs the public accounts committee, has chastised a number of companies about the apparent exploitation of legal tax loopholes by multinationals such as Google and Amazon.

Facebook declined to comment on this story. ®