The software group Palantir paid just £2M in corporation tax in the UK in 2024

  * Palantir started in the US as a start up and burned a lot of money building the systems they are running today and that are finally profitable
  * Those systems are used from the UK subsidiary but if a different consultancy would use them, they would be billed accordingly. That's transfer pricing

The article says as much. Before Palantir has to pay taxes in the US, they first work through previous losses which to a large extent are stock options for their employees. Early employees took a risk working there, it paid off, that gets deducted from the profits. Same for other early spending.

Re: The software group Palantir paid just £2M in corporation tax in the UK in 2024

#5

Post by helsinkiandrew » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 10:12 AM UTC

freakynit wrote: post #2

In case anyone is interested in knowing the "how" part, read this: https://palantir-uk-tax-evasion.pagey.site/

It's mentioned in the article:

> contracts with customers were signed with Palantir’s US companies, which in turn paid a service fee to local country subsidiaries to deliver the work.

Similar trick are used by many companies, for example Starbucks UK conveniently paid £40m in "royalty and license fees" to the parent company resulting in a £35m loss in the UK.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/15/starbuckss-...

Re: The software group Palantir paid just £2M in corporation tax in the UK in 2024

#6

Post by reticulates » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 10:18 AM UTC

dosinga wrote: post #4

this is probably an unpopular opinion, but isn't this working as intended: * Palantir started in the US as a start up and burned a lot of money building the systems they are running today and that are finally profitable * Those systems are used from the UK subsidiary but if a different consultancy would use them, they would be billed accordingly. That's transfer pricing The article says as much. Before Palantir has t…

If they want the tax benefits of a different consultancy using their systems then they can sell their systems to other consultancies. Obviously there is an advantage to operating in the U.K. otherwise they wouldn’t do it so obviously they should pay taxes on their income earned in the U.K from their U.K. operations.

Re: The software group Palantir paid just £2M in corporation tax in the UK in 2024

#7

Post by tremon » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 10:18 AM UTC

dosinga wrote: post #4

this is probably an unpopular opinion, but isn't this working as intended: * Palantir started in the US as a start up and burned a lot of money building the systems they are running today and that are finally profitable * Those systems are used from the UK subsidiary but if a different consultancy would use them, they would be billed accordingly. That's transfer pricing The article says as much. Before Palantir has t…

It's working as designed, not working as intended.

Re: The software group Palantir paid just £2M in corporation tax in the UK in 2024

#8

Post by iamacyborg » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 10:20 AM UTC

freakynit wrote: post #2

In case anyone is interested in knowing the "how" part, read this: https://palantir-uk-tax-evasion.pagey.site/

Hard to look past the claude slop design

Re: The software group Palantir paid just £2M in corporation tax in the UK in 2024

#9

Post by Cider9986 » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 10:21 AM UTC

Seems like Palantir and the UK are a great match for each other.

Re: The software group Palantir paid just £2M in corporation tax in the UK in 2024

#10

Post by embedding-shape » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 10:23 AM UTC

dosinga wrote: post #4

this is probably an unpopular opinion, but isn't this working as intended: * Palantir started in the US as a start up and burned a lot of money building the systems they are running today and that are finally profitable * Those systems are used from the UK subsidiary but if a different consultancy would use them, they would be billed accordingly. That's transfer pricing The article says as much. Before Palantir has t…

> this is probably an unpopular opinion, but isn't this working as intended:

Not sure how trustworthy it is, but assuming what https://palantir-uk-tax-evasion.pagey.site/ writes is true, then:

> a profit-allocation structure that lets most UK revenue/profit be recorded with the US parent instead of the UK subsidiary [...] Both only work because of a third factor: the US isn't taxing it either, so shifting profit "back" to the US isn't costly.

Seems a bit weird, they're not getting properly taxed anywhere in the world apparently. If they were properly taxed in the UK OR the US, things would have been different. But as noted, nothing here is illegal seemingly, just not good for anyone except Palantir.