What is ‘Sweetheart tax'?
NO, it is not a tax to be paid by ‘sweetheart' or on behalf of ‘sweetheart' but an allegation that is made against HMRC [ Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs] - the non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes.
Recently Vodafone Group Plc said that it paid no corporation tax in Britain for the year ending March 2013. The business has already faced a barrage of criticism, after its £1.2 billion settlement of a decade-long dispute with HMRC in 2010.
HMRC officials were accused of arranging "sweetheart" tax with multinationals, sparking an investigation by former High Court judge.
In the past, Google's chairman Eric Schmidt has blamed the low payments on the UK's weak tax laws, saying that it has a duty to shareholders to pay no more tax than required and that his company's hands are tied by the Government's low demands.