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 carried out, 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 mentioned that, since implementation of a world tax deal — set to interchange the levy — was more likely to be delayed, it anticipated corporations would use “the massive assets and experience at their disposal to bypass” the digital providers tax.

“Whereas there could also be no proof of energetic tax avoidance or evasion by companies up to now, this will likely 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 handle issues that tech corporations had been declaring low earnings within the UK by diverting earnings made on UK gross sales to different international locations with decrease company tax charges.

Different international locations, reminiscent of France, Spain, Italy and Turkey, carried out related measures. Most, together with the UK, have mentioned they’d repeal the levy as soon as an OECD settlement, which might permit international locations to tax a component of the most important multinationals’ earnings the place they make their gross sales, is carried out.

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 had been to enroll.

Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrat MP who led the PAC inquiry, mentioned: “We had been very happy to see [HM Revenue & Customs] lastly attending to grips with the realities of taxing multinational companies . . . However [HMRC] must up its sport on compliance — particularly throughout jurisdictions — about how the tax will really function, over what’s going to in all probability be years extra earlier than a correct worldwide tax is absolutely 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 bypass the tax as “stunning and unfounded”. He added: “From our perspective, corporations are attempting to get readability and knowledge out of HMRC with a view to comply. However HMRC was very gradual and never successfully resourced.”

However he agreed that the tax was a “second-best choice . . . Political consideration ought to 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 mentioned the tax system additionally had different methods, together with the diverted earnings 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 recent worldwide guidelines,” HMRC mentioned. It added that it had “a particularly robust monitor document on multinational tax compliance”.