Palantir paid just £2m corporation tax in UK in 2024 despite lucrative public sector contracts
Software group benefits from global systems and accounting practices ‘that enable tax to be shirked’, says union boss The software group Palantir paid just £2m in corporation tax in the UK in 2024, despite holding public sector contracts worth hundreds of millions, thanks to tax breaks that are likely to reduce its contributions to governments around the world for years to come. The…
Software firm Palantir paid a mere £2 million in corporation tax in the United Kingdom in 2024, despite securing high-value contracts with public sector clients worth hundreds of millions of pounds. This low effective tax rate of approximately 1.4% was reported by a coalition of tax experts, who noted that Palantir's global effective rate is similarly low.
The company, headquartered in the United States, has aggressively expanded its presence in the UK, with about 750 employees working there. Palantir's contracts with the UK government and other public sector entities totaled roughly £670 million in 2026, yet it contributed only a fraction of that amount in taxes. The disparity has sparked criticism from a union leader, who called for the company to fulfill its tax obligations and argued that the company's accounting practices, particularly its use of transfer pricing to shift profits to the US, are undermining public service funding.
Palantir defended its tax strategy, stating that it adheres to the tax laws in each jurisdiction and that its use of transfer pricing is standard practice.
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