Starbucks steps up UK corporation tax payments

Coffee shop chain Starbucks paid £8 million (11 million euros, $12 million) of corporation tax in 2014, it said Tuesday, a huge increase on previous years, after announcing a record profit in Britain. The amount is only slightly less than the £8.6 million in corporation tax Starbucks handed over to Britain's tax authorities between its launching in 1998 and 2012, when it pledged to pay more amid controversy. The British arm of the US multinational paid £11.4 million in corporation tax last year as part of a voluntary £20 million payment but much of that was reportedly from waived deductions. Last year, Starbucks announced it was moving its European headquarters from the Netherlands to Britain. The news came as Starbucks announced pre-tax profits increased to £34.2 million in the year to September 27, compared with just under £2 million the previous year. "Before and after tax profits are both up by more than £30 million as we have invested in the store experience while managing our costs," said Starbucks' European, Middle East and Africa president Kris Engskov in a statement. "As a result, our corporation tax payments also increased." In October, the European Union ordered Starbucks, along with Italian automaker Fiat, each to repay up to 30 million euros in back taxes in a landmark tax avoidance case. Brussels says tax deals that the Netherlands offered Starbucks and Luxembourg gave Fiat were illegal, dealing its first major blow in a campaign against sweetheart tax arrangements.