Google to pay nearly £50m to the Treasury as EU mulls new tax plans

Tech giant Google will pay almost £50m in tax to the Treasury this year, up from a sum of £36.4m in 2017.

The firm revealed in its annual accounts that it would pay UK corporation taxes of £49.3m on operating profits of £202.4m.

“As an international business, we pay the majority of our taxes in our home country, as well as all the taxes due in the UK,” a Google spokesperson said. “We are investing significantly in the UK, including starting work on new offices in King’s Cross for 7,000 staff.”

It comes after the European Commission last week took aim at tech giants like Google by unveiling proposals for new rules to ensure fair taxation of tech firms, including a three per cent tax on certain digital revenues.

Google’s revenues for the year to June 2017 totalled £1.27bn, up from £1.03bn the previous year.

The Commission’s double-layered plan would cause online firms to face contributing at the same level as traditional bricks and mortar companies.