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The Guardian on Barclays taxes again

The bank, which survived the banking crisis without a direct taxpayer bailout, incurred controversy when it admitted to the Treasury select committee that it paid just £113m of corporation tax in the UK in 2009 – when it made £11.9bn of profits.

Still not telling us that £7 billionish of that was not taxable in exactly the same way that The Guardian Media Group\’s £300 million from selling Autotrader was not taxable.

Tsk.

The total corporation tax bill was £1.5bn, but it does not say how much of this was paid in the UK.

Or about 27% of taxable profits, as JohnB has reminded us. Just what is the problem with a company paying within spitting distance of the headline tax rate?

UK rules allow the bank to use the losses against future profits indefinitely. Other countries, such as Germany, place restrictions on the time such losses can be carried.

Is that right? I thought Germany allowed only a certain percentage to be used in any one year, rather than time limiting the use?

3 thoughts on “The Guardian on Barclays taxes again”

  1. What’s your standing on this topic, Tim? After all, you’ve never dodged taxes on the epic Guardian scale, have you?

  2. Germany changed its tax loss carry forward rules a few years ago, from 5 year carry forwards to the current system which allows indefinite carry forward but only allows losses to be set against up to 60% of annual taxable profits before the application of losses brought forward.

  3. Pingback: FCAblog » Shouldn’t The Guardian hire a deputy City editor who understands accounting?

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