Twitter’s British operation paid £1.24 million in tax last year as staff enjoyed a £12.5 million shares windfall.

The US technology company, which is the subject of rumours of a potential acquisition by Google, Disney or computing company SalesForce reported a rise in UK revenues of 30.5 per cent to £76 million in 2015, well short of the £135.7 million that it made in Britain, according to estimates from analysts at eMarketer.

This could mean that up to £60 million of Twitter's revenues may have been booked in Ireland, where the parent company of the UK operation is incorporated.

Twitter UK made a £3.36 million pretax profit last year, up from £3.29 million in 2014. The £1.24 million tax payment was shown in accounts filed at Companies House.

Legally diverting revenues can help companies avoid paying higher corporation tax bills in the UK, and Twitter is one of a number of large companies that has been criticised for locating activities in Ireland.

A spokesman for Twitter UK said: “We account for sales in the UK and we pay tax in the UK.”

The company, which has headquarters in London, employed 163 people last year, up from 126 in 2014, running up a bill for wages, pensions and social insurance of £17.6 million.

On average, each staff member cost almost £108,000. The pay of the company's top UK directors is not revealed in the UK accounts. Dara Nasr is the managing director of Twitter UK.

The company set aside £12.5 million to cover the cost of shares for employees, down from £14 million in 2014.

– (Guardian Service)