The world’s largest tech corporations are anticipated to “circumvent” the British authorities’s particular tax on digital corporations earlier than new worldwide guidelines are applied, MPs have warned.

In a report revealed on Tuesday, the Home of Commons public accounts committee discovered that the digital providers tax raised £358mn from 18 corporations in its first 12 months — 30 per cent greater than anticipated. However it warned the “profitable implementation” of the levy in 2020-21 was unlikely to proceed.

It stated that, since implementation of a global tax deal — set to switch the levy — was prone to be delayed, it anticipated corporations would use “the large sources and experience at their disposal to avoid” the digital providers tax.

“Whereas there could also be no proof of energetic tax avoidance or evasion by companies so far, this may occasionally change if the lifetime of the digital providers tax is prolonged,” the report, which didn’t title any corporations, concluded.

Ministers introduced within the new digital providers tax in 2020 as a brief measure to deal with issues that tech corporations have been declaring low income within the UK by diverting income made on UK gross sales to different nations with decrease company tax charges.

Different nations, resembling France, Spain, Italy and Turkey, applied related measures. Most, together with the UK, have stated they might repeal the levy as soon as an OECD settlement, which might enable nations to tax a component of the biggest multinationals’ income the place they make their gross sales, is applied.

Though the method is progressing on the Paris-based worldwide organisation, there are few indicators that the US Congress will ratify any settlement even when the Biden administration have been to enroll.

Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrat MP who led the PAC inquiry, stated: “We have been more than happy to see [HM Revenue & Customs] lastly attending to grips with the realities of taxing multinational firms . . . However [HMRC] must up its recreation on compliance — particularly throughout jurisdictions — about how the tax will truly function, over what is going to in all probability be years extra earlier than a correct worldwide tax is totally operational.”

Neil Ross, affiliate director of coverage at trade group TechUK, rejected the report’s suggestion that companies would search to search out methods to avoid the tax as “stunning and unfounded”. He added: “From our perspective, corporations try to get readability and data out of HMRC with a purpose to comply. However HMRC was very sluggish and never successfully resourced.”

However he agreed that the tax was a “second-best choice . . . Political consideration must be centered on getting the OECD framework agreed.”

The Treasury and HMRC additionally dismissed the PAC’s warning that corporations would circumvent the tax, saying it was comparatively straightforward to function. Officers stated the tax system additionally had different methods, together with the diverted income tax, to make sure tech giants paid their fair proportion.

“The digital providers tax has proved extremely efficient at taxing the UK revenues made by on-line companies forward of latest worldwide guidelines,” HMRC stated. It added that it had “an especially sturdy observe file on multinational tax compliance”.