£80.5bn tax bill paid by big UK business, analysis shows

The Treasury's coffers gained £80.5bn in tax contributions from big business in the UK this year, according to analysis by Big 4 firm PwC.

The report, which was made for the 100 Group of finance directors, noted that companies are paying higher rates of tax in spite of the continued reduction in the rate of corporation tax.

UK financial services

The financial services sector in the UK alone was responsible for paying taxes worth £66.5bn in the last year, which marks the third year in a row to see an increase. In fact, PwC pointed out it was the highest figure since 2007.

Head of tax at PwC, Kevin Nicholson, said: "Successive governments have deliberately reduced reliance on volatile profit taxes by taxing businesses in other ways. Four fifths of business tax costs now come from taxes that many people may not have heard about and the new apprenticeship levy will further increase the contribution from large business."

Business rates

One of the main findings from the survey was the fact that business rates have now overtaken corporation tax as the second largest tax paid out by big companies.

This is the first time this has happened, and it means that only employers’ national insurance contributions (NIC) cost them more in levies due to the Treasury.

NIC costs represent 29.4% of large company taxes, while business rates make up 21% and corporation tax 18.3%, with the latter dropping down from 23.4% last year.