HELPING fat-cat corporations avoid tax, “on an industrial scale”, was actively promoted by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a report by MPs has said.
BBC Business reports the firm is said to have helped hundreds of clients cut their corporation tax bills by setting up bases in Luxembourg.
BBC Business reports the firm is said to have helped hundreds of clients cut their corporation tax bills
Earlier this week the Archbishop of Canterbury said companies should pay tax wherever they earned their profits.
PwC said it disagreed with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report but added that the tax system was “too complex”.
The report was based on an evidence session held in December, at which PwC gave evidence.
“We believe that PricewaterhouseCoopers’s activities represent nothing short of the promotion of tax avoidance on an industrial scale,” said Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the PAC.
She said PwC had written more than 500 letters to the tax authorities in Luxembourg, on behalf of more than 300 international clients.
The tax avoidance schemes, which are legal, involve companies diverting profits to tax havens like Luxembourg via a series of loans between different parts of the business.
