Google UK pays staff average of £160k

GOOGLE spent more than half a billion pounds on wages for its 2,000-plus UK staff, its latest accounts reveal.

A salary bill of £562million in the 18 months up to June 2015 means that the average annual pay of its workers in Britain is an astonishing £160,000 a year.

The web giant hired 494 more staff in the same period, when it also earned £1.2billion in revenue. Of this, £890million was funneled in ‘marketing and services’ fees to its European HQ in Ireland.

Corporation tax there is 12.5 per cent against the UK’s 20 per cent. Google reduced its tax bill further by moving some of this money to another company in Bermuda.

This means that despite such huge earnings in Britain, it paid only £46million in UK corporation tax on a listed operating profit of £123million.

Two weeks ago, Google was shamed for agreeing a so-called

‘This is a shameful example of greed’

‘sweetheart deal’ with the Treasury to pay £130million more in back taxes dating back to 2005.

Labour MP and tax campaigner Margaret Hodge said: ‘When they’re making so much money they should be making a fair contribution to the Exchequer to fund public services. This is a shameful example of greed overtaking corporate responsibility.’

The accounts, filed at Companies House this week, also show Google has blown £18million by delaying development of its HQ in Kings Cross, north London.

The original plans featured a rooftop pool, indoor football pitch and climbing wall. But boss Larry Page ordered them ripped up because they were ‘too boring’.

A spokesman said: ‘After a sixyear audit by the tax authority we are paying the amount of tax that HMRC agrees we should pay.’