Microsoft has reportedly avoided up to £100m a year in UK corporation tax by routing its sales through Ireland.

The corporation has sent more than £8bn of revenues from computers and software bought by British customers to Ireland since 2011, as part of a deal with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the Sunday Times reports.

The arrangements, known as advance pricing agreements, agree on the allocation of profit between various countries.

5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Show all 5 1 /5 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Facebook Facebook paid £4327 in corporation tax in 2014, after it made a pre-tax loss of £28.5 million, according to filings at Companies House. That's less tax that new average UK employee pays on their salary. 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Amazon Amazon’s UK business paid just £11.9m in corporation tax last year, even though the online retail giant took £5.3bn in sales from British shoppers. 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Google So well known for avoiding tax that it had the 'Google tax' on multinationals that move profits to low-tax countries named after it. Alarm bells started ringing in 2012, when Google revealed it payed only £11.6 million to the Treasury, despite taking £3.4 billion in the UK. 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Uber Uber paid £22,134 in UK corporation tax last year despite making an £866,000 profit. 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Starbucks In October, the European Commission ruled that Starbucks' tax deal in the EU was illegal, ordering it to pay pay between €20-30 million to the Netherlands.

HMRC approved Microsoft's offshore structure in 2012, in a deal which runs from 2011 to 2017.

Corporation tax in Ireland currently stands at 12.5 per cent, while the UK has a corporation tax rate of 20 per cent.

More than 140 tax deals have been arranged between HMRC and some of the world's biggest companies, the Sunday Times investigation found.

Advance pricing agreements are now being investigated across Europe by the European Commission, which wants to ensure they do not breach rules on state aid.

A spokesperson for HMRC said: “No company will pay a single penny less in tax because of Advance Payments Agreements.

"These simply set out how the tax rules will apply on complex transactions ahead of time and we keep them under constant review.”

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