Facebook Ireland’s latest accounts show the social media giant paid corporate taxes of just €3.4m in Ireland last year despite a 63% increase in revenues, rising to €4.8bn.

Despite the huge surge in sales – attributable mainly to growth in online advertising revenues from third party customers - Facebook Ireland’s pre-tax profits amounted to just under €13m last year, a 76% increase on the prior year.

Profitability was constrained by the very large hike in administrative expenses which jumped from €2.9bn to €4.7bn - these were made up principally of royalty payments and fees to other Facebook entities.

Commenting on the payments, a Facebook spokesperson said, "We comply with all tax laws where we operate."

"We're committed to Ireland and are a significant contributor to the Irish economy - this is highlighted by the major investment in our new HQ and that we continue to hire employees locally," the company added.

The number of people employed by Facebook in Ireland increased from 425 to 478 during the year. This comprised 27 people in sales, 98 in community operations, 89 in administration and 64 in engineering positions.

Reforms

Meanwhile new proposals for a Common Consolidated Tax Base will top the agenda of an EU Finance ministers meeting in Brussels today. The first stage would involve a common definition of what counts as taxable corporate profits.

The proposed second stage, which Ireland is monitoring closely, would involve a greater distribution of tax payments linked to where companies' operations are actually based.