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Facebook's UK Tax Bill Is About To Get A Lot Bigger

Facebook is about to pay millions more in taxes in the U.K. after scrutiny from regulators.
Posted at 9:19 AM, Mar 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-04 09:19:00-05

Facebook is about to pay millions more in taxes in the U.K. 

Facebook came under heavy criticism over its tax practices in the U.K. after it was revealed that the company only paid a little more than the equivalent of $6,000 in taxes in 2014.

Now the BBC reports Facebook has done some restructuring and will no longer be routing sales from its largest advertisers through Ireland, which has a much lower corporation tax. 

This should mean the social media company will have substantially more revenue in the U.K. and therefore pay higher taxes. 

Facebook isn't the only tech giant to come under fire for its tax practices in the U.K. Google has agreed to pay $183 million in back taxes after scrutiny from U.K. tax authorities. 

Facebook's structure change might be motivated by what's being called the "Google tax." Under that new rule, companies that are caught moving profits out of the country will pay a 25 percent higher corporation tax. 

This video includes clips from Facebook and Google and images from Getty Images.