Facebook is set to pay millions more in UK tax after abandoning its ploy of funnelling cash out of the country to Ireland to cut its overall bill.

The social media giant paid £4,327 in UK corporation tax in 2014 - £1,000 less than the average British worker - despite revenues of more than £700million.

But from April it will abandon sending its UK advertising sales to Ireland and on to the Cayman Islands where it pays a zero tax rate, citing the need for 'transparency'.

Pressure: Facebook is to pay millions more in UK tax after admitting it will abandon its ploy of sending its UK advertising sales to Ireland and on to the Cayman Islands where it pays a zero tax rate

UK base: Facebook employs 362 UK staff at his London HQ (pictured) with an average salary of £210,000 and is moving to a huge new £17million-a-year office - but claims its sales are closed in Ireland

Facebook employs 362 UK staff with an average salary of £210,000 and is moving to a huge new £17million-a-year London headquarters next year.

HOW FACEBOOK TURNS ITS UK MILLIONS INTO BIG LOSSES Admission: Mark Zuckerberg's business has said that it must be more transparent and will end its sales practice from April In the UK, from 2006 to 2014 Facebook paid: A total of £855,832 in taxation - including £4,327 in 2014. It says it has made £54,186,962 of losses in the UK in that period. Its most recent declared is £105million in 2014. In Ireland, from 2008 to 2014, where international sales are sent: Facebook Ireland Limited has paid a total of €14.8million in tax It has made a pre-tax profit of €3.2million on a 2014 turnover of €4.837billion SOURCE: DueDil Advertisement

Yet it has managed to turn its £700million of revenues into losses by claiming its British advertising sales, the main source of its income, are 'closed' in Ireland.

Cash is sent from Dublin to another Irish subsidiary in the Cayman Islands - in a tax arrangement called the 'Double Irish' by experts.

The same ploy has also been used by big businesses including Amazon, Apple, Starbucks and Google, who agreed to pay more tax in January.

Figures released under Freedom of Information laws even revealed that HMRC has paid more to advertise on Facebook than it received from the company in tax.

HMRC paid £27,000 in 2015 for adverts on Facebook urging people to pay their taxes - more than six times the £4,327 it received in corporation tax from the company the previous year.

From April Facebook will stop sending UK advertising revenue from giants like Tesco, Sainsbury's and even HMRC to Dublin to benefit from Ireland's lower tax rate.

It said in a statement that the new arrangement - which will start in April - would provide greater 'transparency'. It means it larger tax bill will be due in 2017.

A Facebook spokesman said: 'On Monday we will start notifying large UK customers that from the start of April they will receive invoices from Facebook UK and not Facebook Ireland. What this means in practice is that UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland. Facebook UK will then record the revenue from these sales.

'In light of changes to tax law in the UK, we felt this change would provide transparency to Facebook's operations in the UK. The new structure is easier to understand and clearly recognises the value our UK organisation adds to our sales through our highly skilled and growing UK sales team.'

In numbers: Facebook employs tens of thousands of people and made £12.7bn in revenue in 2014, the latest figures available

Facebook has also reportedly slashed its UK tax bill by paying staff with shares.

It came weeks after ministers were accused of going soft on Google as it emerged the internet giant escaped fines despite failing to pay its taxes in full for a decade.

HMRC PAYS MORE TO FACEBOOK FOR ADS THAN IT GETS IN TAX HMRC pays more to Facebook for advertising than it receives from them in tax, it emerged today. Facebook paid just £4,327 in tax in 2014. But HMRC paid them £27,000 for adverts placed on the site the following year. The figures, released to Channel 4 News under the Freedom of Information Act, will be an embarrassment for the government, showing the taxman is handing over thousands for ad space to companies paying back minimal amounts into the public kitty. Advertisement

In a damning report, the Commons public accounts committee accused HM Revenue and Customs of double standards over its failure to penalise Google for its controversial tax arrangements.

The report also criticised HMRC for accepting an offer from Google of just £130million to cover unpaid taxes dating back to 2005.

It said the figure ‘seems disproportionately small’, given the firm’s vast revenues in the UK. MPs said the taxman ‘seems unable to collect a fair share’ of corporation tax from global companies in the UK.

Facebook's decision to change their tax policy will pile huge pressure on Google, Apple, Amazon and Starbucks - who

They also face an Brussels investigation their methods of moving money around to avoid taxes to countries offering them so-called 'sweetheart tax bills'.

Baroness Joanna Shields, Facebook's former European boss, is the Government minister for internet security.

HQ: This is Google's UK reception at one of its central London offices, where thousands are employed, but it insists that it has no 'fixed base' in Britain to reduce its tax liability

The revelation came weeks after a controversial HMRC agreement with Google - which George Osborne welcomed but was widely panned.

Google has agreed a bill of £130 million for the period of 2005 to 2014 - but it includes no fines or penalties.

Other giant firms - including Apple, Amazon and Starbucks - have also come under scrutiny in Brussels for their methods of moving money around to avoid taxes.