Barclays tax bill row continues

Barclays courted fresh controversy over its offshore tax arrangements as it revealed the bank’s corporation tax bill stood at £113 million in 2009 – a fraction of its multibillion pound profits.

The banking giant revealed the corporation tax payment in a submission to MPs on the Treasury Select Committee after they requested further details during a hearing with new Barclays boss Bob Diamond last month.

It said more than £2 billion was paid in total to HM Revenue & Customers in 2009, although £113 million was corporation tax.

That year the group posted pre-tax profits of £11.6 billion and it revealed last week profits of £6.1 billion for 2010.

It also confirmed it paid more than £2.8 billion in total taxes in 2010, although it did not reveal corporation tax payments.

Mr Diamond came under fire from MPs in last month’s hearing, with Labour’s Chuka Umunna accusing the group of “tax avoidance on a grand scale”.

But Barclays said in its additional submission to the Committee that the corporation tax bill was lower due to “UK losses brought forward principally arising from credit write downs”.

In a further statement, it also said it was “inappropriate” to link group profits with UK tax paid. It said: “Barclays takes its responsibilities as a corporate citizen very seriously. We comply with taxation laws in the UK and in all the countries where we do business – both in the spirit and the letter.”

The group added: “Barclays is a large international banking group with operations in 50 countries worldwide, all of which are subject to close governance and clear disclosure. The corporate tax affairs of an organisation with the global footprint of Barclays are complex and not reducible to simplistic comparisons; any link between Barclays Group profits and the amount of tax paid to the UK Government is inappropriate – there is no direct correlation between the two.”

News of the group’s 2009 corporation tax bill comes just a week after it confirmed £3.4 billion in bonuses for 2010 and a 32% surge in profits. It did not disclose Mr Diamond’s bonus pot, which is reported to be more than £9 million.