2022: HMRC urged to investigate McDonald’s tax scheme

War On Want has published a report, Secrets and Fries, calling on HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to investigate McDonald’s — and for Whitehall to tackle the City of London’s role as a tax haven for global corporations.

The company’s creation of a British tax shelter through a circular paper transaction that moved franchising rights between Singapore and London, enabled McDonald’s to shield its global franchise income from tax in this country. More incidental information on this may be read about this here.

War On Want urged HMRC to investigate the transaction and the company’s current structure as its “primary purpose appears to be to create a tax avoidance scheme.” The group’s economic justice campaigner Owen Espley said:

“In 2020, McDonald’s workers were paid poverty wages for pushing sales through the roof, while McDonald’s shareholders received a record pay out, inflated by the hundreds of millions of public funds (Covid-19 support) that flowed into McDonald’s.

Source: article (James Salmon lead author)

“Furlough provided a lifeline to more than a million businesses across the UK and protected nearly 12 million jobs — with businesses passing all the money they received from the scheme on to employees.” The report recommends that:

• Parliament must take action to close loopholes and shut down tax schemes that rob public coffers and restrain economic recovery.
• Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) should rigorously investigate McDonald’s affairs
• Policy makers should address the City of London’s role as a tax haven for McDonald’s and other multinationals,
• looking to rebalance economic rulemaking in favour of workers and the communities in which multinational corporations operate.

And international efforts to address multinational tax avoidance should take place within the United Nations to ensure that all countries are able to participate on an equal footing.

 

 

 

 

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