Foreign companies owe UK £5.5 billion in taxes: study

Foreign companies in the UK owed around £5.5 billion in taxes to the British tax department, according to figures published by a newspaper.

UK's tax-collecting body, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has identified 258 big multi-national firms thought to have outstanding tax bills amounting to the sum, according to the daily.

According to figures obtained by the newspaper under the freedom of information laws of the UK, British businesses owned by foreign parent firms made up 44 per cent of all potential tax lost through underpayments by the kingdom's largest companies.

According to Margaret Hodge, who chaired parliament's Public Accounts Committee cross-party scrutiny body, over the past few months there had been growing anger at what was seen to be unfairness in the tax system. Hodge was speaking to The Times newspaper.

She said if one was rich, one got away with tax avoidance but ordinary persons had to pay their fair share.

The committee on Monday would question HMRC chief executive Lin Homer.