The software group Palantir paid just £2M in corporation tax in the UK in 2024
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- Palantir paid £2.1m in UK corporation tax in 2024 on over £25m of declared profits, resulting in an effective tax rate just above 8%, far below the UK’s 25% statutory rate
- Palantir reported £247m in UK revenues in its public filings while disclosing only £159m in UK company accounts, a discrepancy researchers attribute to transfer pricing that shifts income to the US
- Cictar found Palantir’s global effective tax rate was 1.4% in 2024, with the company paying no US federal taxes last year due to carried-forward losses and share-based tax credits
- Unison, which commissioned the Cictar report, criticized Palantir for benefiting from public contracts while minimizing tax contributions, urging ministers to reconsider awarding public service work to such firms
- Palantir uses employee share options to reduce its corporate tax liability, a practice it defends as standard and beneficial because it shifts taxation to employees at higher income tax rates
- Palantir holds an estimated £670m in UK government contracts through 2026, including a non-competitive £240m Ministry of Defence deal awarded in December 2023
Why it matters: Palantir retains billions in profits earned from UK public contracts while contributing minimally in corporation tax, shifting the fiscal burden to employees and domestic taxpayers. With nearly a decade of US federal tax liability avoided and European operations structured to minimize local taxation, the model challenges assumptions about fair contribution from tech firms operating in public sectors.
