Demonstrators protest outside a Starbucks coffee shop in central London
Demonstrators protest outside a Starbucks coffee shop in central London

Accountancy giant Deloitte is urging the Government to be more consistent in its tax rules to attract investment from foreign companies, and address the "disconnect" between its crackdown on tax avoidance and reduction in corporation rates.

According to an interview with The Telegraph, Deloitte's UK chief David Sproul said: "On the one hand, you've got a government pursuing a tax strategy to make the UK one of the most completive regimes.

"But then you've got a push by the PAC and by others to say... we want to make sure everyone's paying their fair share of tax and we'll determine what that fair share of tax is."

Sproul hailed UK Chancellor George Osborne's attempts to weaken the entry barriers for foreign companies looking to expand in Britain. The measures include cutting corporation tax to 20% by 2015, relaxing stringent rules for setting up bases in the UK, and introducing patent box credits.

However Sproul's main criticism falls on the Government's renewed stance on tax avoidance by companies such as Starbucks and Amazon.

In June, after a torrent of criticism from consumer groups and the British Government over tax avoidance, US coffee chain Starbucks paid £5m ($7.7m, €5.9m) in British corporation tax and promised to pay another £15m by the end of next year. It was for the first time in five years the company had paid this tax.

"It does require the Government to be more consistent, so if they want to attract big business here, and they want to use a competitive tax regime as one of the planks of that attractiveness, then they need to deliver on that consistently and not frankly be playing to the gallery at times, and stop playing off the PAC arguments," Sproul said.

"They need to be be absolutely clear that they want companies to pay their fair share of tax, but not in a way that will cause them to be pilloried for taking advantage of reliefs that the Government has itself put in place."

Sproul's comments come as the government is launching an initiative to discourage complex tax avoidance schemes. It plans to impose fines up to £1m for promoters of such schemes, who will also face "naming and shaming".

London