- Home-sharing website Airbnb paid only £200,000 in corporation tax last year
- Revelation will likely add to concern surrounding how nations deal with US firms
- Airbnb is valued £23.7billion and Britain is one of its most important territories
Airbnb paid only £200,000 corporation tax last year even though the home-sharing website generated more than £600million of rental income for British landlords.
The website books commissions from landlords and renters in Britain through a subsidiary in Ireland, but it does have two offshoots in England.
One of them, Airbnb Payments UK, handles cash transfers between guests and landlords outside America, Chine and India.
Following a slump in reported profits the firm paid £188,000 in UK corporation tax last year, which is down £196,000 in 2015.
Airbnb books commissions from landlords and renters in Britain through a subsidiary in Ireland, but it does have two offshoots in England
The news will likely add to growing concern surrounding how nations can extract taxes from US giants that dominate the digital economy.
It comes after the European Commission ordered Luxembourg to reclaim £224million from Amazon over a tax deal.
Airbnb is valued at around £23.7billion — and Britain is one of its most significant overseas markets.
The San Francisco company added: ‘The overwhelming amount of money generated by the Airbnb platform stays with local hosts and their communities, and is subject to local tax’
Property owners in the UK generated a total of £657million in rental income last years, the company says.
A spokesman for the company told The Sunday Times: ‘We follow the rules and pay all the tax we owe’.
The San Francisco company added: ‘The overwhelming amount of money generated by the Airbnb platform stays with local hosts and their communities, and is subject to local tax.’