Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to tackle tax avoidance by global technology firms.

This Government has been relentless in its crackdown on tax avoidance, and has taken a range of action to prevent avoidance at the outset, and to detect and counter it effectively where it persists. The Government has made 42 changes to tax law, closing numerous loopholes and introducing major strategic reforms to the UK tax system, such as the UK's first General Anti-Abuse Rule. Supported by the Government's investment of £1 billion in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, HMRC has secured over £77 billion in compliance yield since the start of this Parliament. As part of this, since April 2010 HMRC has secured around £31billion from large businesses. So it should come as no surprise that we are considering action in this area.

In his recent Conference speech the Chancellor stated that action will be taken to stop technology companies that go to extraordinary lengths to avoid tax in the UK. The Chancellor's foreword in the UK position paper on "Tackling aggressive tax planning in the global economy", published at the last Budget, stated that such behaviour is unfair and wrong. Further details will be set out this Autumn.

In addition, the UK is working with the G20, OECD and other countries to take forward the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. Part of this involves work on the tax challenges of the digital economy through the Task Force on the Digital Economy, and UK officials are fully engaged in this process.