Report highlights tax payments of large companies

Some of the UK's biggest companies paid no corporation tax last year, according to research by the Times.

People working in tax jobs may be interested to learn that firms such as Cadbury, Standard Chartered and American Tobacco paid nothing in corporation tax in 2007.

There is no allegation of impropriety but the research has highlighted that the companies earn most of their profits outside the UK, which means they can offset these against their domestic tax liabilities and pay nearly no corporation tax.

The study will fuel the debate about whether the government should reform the law and the way in which companies are taxed on their overseas income.

Richard Murphy, an accountant with Tax Research UK, told the newspaper: "We have an extremely generous corporate regime which needs to be re-examined."

Meanwhile, chancellor Alistair Darling has been the subject of demands from business leaders to cut taxes after a retreat on the subject of corporation tax, reports the Guardian.