It is found that the social networking giant, Facebook paid just £2.9 million in taxes outside the US on profits of more than more than £800 million.

The filings made by Facebook Ireland showed that it paid just €3.2 million or £2.9 million in taxes during the previous year. The company's global profits outside the US are channeled through Facebook Ireland. Companies that purchase advertisements on the website from around the world pay Facebook Ireland as Facebook is a structures company.

Facebook Ireland made a gross profit of £840 million during 2011 but paid just €3.2 million by using an accounting technique called the "Double Irish", which allowed the company to pay much lesser taxes compared to the high gross profit. Double Irish allows multinational companies to move large amounts of money o its subsidiaries as royalty payments to avoid paying high taxes.

Facebook Ireland moved about £750 million to the Cayman Islands and its parent office in Californian in licensing and royalty payments. Following the transfers, Facebook Ireland reported a £15 million annual loss while at the same time it accounted for the company's $3.15 billion revenues from around the world.