Anger as minicab firm Uber pays just £400,000 in UK tax despite raking in more than £23m from British customers• Minicab firm Uber paid £411,000 in UK tax last year despite a £23m turnover
• Uber London Ltd's latest accounts show UK company’s turnover doubled
• UK driver commission fees disappeared into a controversial tax structure
• Revenue for firm's international sales hub in Netherlands reached £420m
Minicab app firm Uber paid just £411,000 in UK tax last year despite raking in more than £23million from British customers.
Uber London Ltd's latest accounts show the UK company’s turnover doubled in the year to December 2015, but this income came from providing unspecified 'support' to other companies within the group, and not from driver commissions.
After expenses, the small subsidiary made a profit of £1.8million and paid £411,000 in tax, while commission fees from thousands of drivers in Britain disappeared into a controversial tax structure in the Netherlands.
Accounts for the firm's international sales hub in that country show commissions from drivers in London and dozens of other cities worldwide were on the rise in 2015, according to The Guardian, increasing revenues to $520million (£420million).
That is seven times the figure for 2014. Drivers are paid their fares directly from passengers before handing over a commission fee to Uber.
This then appears in the group's Dutch accounts.
Uber's tax structure was criticised by the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association, which represents black cab drivers, saying the firm was not paying 'its fair share of tax'.
Uber booked £23.3million in turnover last year, up from £11.3 million in 2014, according to accounts filed by its UK holding company Uber London, which employs 105 staff.
Uber London Ltd's latest accounts show the UK company’s turnover doubled last year
UBER LONDON'S ACCOUNTS
Turnover: £23million
Profit: £1.8million
Tax: £411,000
Profits also rocketed 106 per cent to £1.83million, compared with £888,436 in 2014, with the company paying £410,851 in corporation tax.
An Uber spokesman said: 'This has been a period of rapid investment for Uber in the UK, expanding from just three cities at the start of last year to more than 20 today.
'While we recorded a profit here last year, globally we make a loss as we are a young company that is still expanding and investing heavily.'
Uber announced in August that it had struck an agreement to merge its Chinese business with rival Didi Chuxing in a 35 billion US dollar (£26billion) deal.
As part of the tie-up, investors in loss-making Uber China will pick a 20 per cent stake in Didi Chuxing, while the deal marks an end to a bitter two-year rivalry in the country.
source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... paign=1490
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