Vodafone Paid No U.K. Corporation Tax in 2011

Vodafone Plc (VOD) paid no corporation tax in the U.K. last year after earning “several hundred million pounds” from its 19 million customers, the Sunday Times reported, citing its own investigation.

The company used a network of offshore companies, principally in Luxembourg, to erase its tax liability and claim a refund of 4 million pounds ($6.2 million), according to the Sunday Times.

Simon Gordon, a company spokesman, said in reply to an e- mail seeking comment that Vodafone pays tax in every country where it operates. The mobile-phone company, based in Newbury, U.K., pays 1 pound in corporate tax worldwide for every 4 pounds of profit, he said. “There are tax reliefs for capital investment and interest costs in the U.K., which applied in this case,” Gordon said to Bloomberg.