Seven big investment banks in UK paid little or no tax

Seven of the biggest investment banks operating in London paid little or no tax in Britain last year, despite reporting billions of dollars in profits, an analysis of corporate filings shows.

In recent months, the seven investment and corporate banks operating in London reported figures showing they paid a combined $31 million in corporation tax in 2014.

Between them, they generated revenues of $31 billion in Britain and profits of $5.3 billion, and employed 33,000 staff.

Five of the banks – JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Nomura Holding and Morgan Stanley – said their main UK arms paid no corporation tax.

The seven banks, which also include Goldman Sachs and UBS, used tax breaks and tax losses generated during the banking crisis to reduce their tax bills.

The filings also show that at least some of the banks paid no tax because they reported losses in London, while reporting profits in much smaller affiliates in lower tax jurisdictions.

The bank filings are available because of a 2013 change to European Union rules that requires banks to publish country-by-country profit and tax break-downs.

The British government says it is leading international efforts to ensure corporations pay their fair share of tax, after public anger at reports in recent years that companies such as Google and Starbucks where shifting profits out of Britain to avoid tax.

– (Reuters)