Cadbury's American owners were under fire last night after it emerged they paid no UK corporation tax last year – despite generating over £1.7billion in sales.

Parent company Mondelez UK made profits of £177million in 2015, which under the standard tax rate would be billed at £36million.

However accounts filed by the US giant – which controversially took over Cadbury's for £11.5billion six years ago – reveal it lawfully avoided any payment to HMRC last year.

Critics said it showed that large firms were still able to avoid paying tax while small companies are hammered. They called on the Government to clamp down on the tactics.

Cadbury's American owners were under fire last night after it emerged they paid no UK corporation tax last year – despite generating over £1.7billion in sales

Mondelez avoided paying corporation tax in Britain thanks to a series of legal accounting techniques.

These included a combination of interest payments and a one-off £42million accounting gain from the sale of its coffee business, which was exempt from tax.

Mondelez said it complies 'with all applicable tax legislation in the UK'. But the TaxPayers' Alliance said the situation 'highlights our complex, confusing tax code'.

John Christensen, from campaign group the Tax Justice Network, said: 'Britain is a huge market for big companies like Cadbury.

Parent company Mondelez UK made profits of £177million in 2015, which under the standard tax rate would be billed at £36million

'We should be pursuing them to pay tax like any other company – we are far too lenient on the big firms while we hit the small companies hard. This is wrong. These companies should all be treated the same.'

He added: 'The Government needs to build capacity in HMRC to take on the big companies.'

Mondelez also paid no corporation tax in 2014, by citing the interest payments on billions of pounds of debts which are listed as a bond in the Channel Islands.

It comes amid growing anger at tax avoidance by multinationals. The tax affairs of global companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon have all come under fire in recent years.