Twitter Reports Very Low UK Profits, Believed To Be Routing Through Ireland

Twitter is a huge company and one of the biggest social media presences across the world, and in the United Kingdom. Yet this year they have reported retained profits of just £92,408 in the UK. Which is about three times the average salary of a single UK citizen.

The Guardian points out that Twitter’s UK profits are staggeringly low and that it seems likely they are channelling profits through Ireland to benefit from lower taxes there. While the company has not officially confirmed this it seems likely given that Google actually does a similar thing.

Twitter is currently not listed on the UK stock market so has no obligation to give further public explanation of their finances. Though HMRC could choose to investigate further if they so wish.

“Since Twitter UK opened in 2011 we have been steadily building our team, focusing on promoting great uses of Twitter by all elements of UK society – the arts, sport, government and brand partners,” a spokesperson for the company said.

This is yet another example of companies in the UK screwing the tax system. Twitter join the likes of Google, Starbucks, Costa, Amazon and many others that benefit immensely from the large UK market yet pay very little on what they earn, using a variety of covert and shady methods to avoid taxation.

Image courtesy of Twitter