Vodafone paid zero UK corporation tax last year

The company saw its global corporation tax bill go up by £300m to £2.3bn, but none of that money went to the exchequer in the UK, where Vodafone takes several hundred millions of pounds from more than 19m customers each year. Instead, the mobile operator’s British corporation tax bill fell to zero from £140m in the year to March 31, 2011, despite an increase underlying earnings before interest and tax at its UK operation rose from £1.2bn to £1.3bn. Although Vodafone has acted within the law, its minimal bill in Britain is likely to reignite anger over the group’s dealings with the taxman. The business, based in Newbury, Berkshire, has already faced a barrage of criticism, after its £1.2 billion settlement of a decade-long dispute with HMRC in 2010. Vodafone was able to avoid paying corporation tax in Britain last year by offsetting the bill against its capital expenditure, which rose from £516m to £575m.