We are at that time of year again, where the fools start shouting about Facebook’s tax payments. The latest wonder is that their tax bill barely shifted. How could this be?

Facebook has been told to “pay its fair share” to British coffers after its latest accounts showed only a slight uptick in its tax bill despite profits surging by more than a quarter.

The social network’s filings revealed its corporation tax increased to £40m from £30.4m a year earlier, meaning, including deductions for employee share awards, it paid £33.5m to HMRC.

However, after further adjustments for deferred tax credits, which it expects to receive in future years, Facebook’s total income tax expense came in at £28.6m for 2019, only slightly higher than the £28.5m logged for the prior year.

A simple explanation is to look at Facebook’s – the parent company – accounts for the year in question:

Profits declined in 2019 with respect to 2018. No, I don’t know why either but there it is. So, lower profits, we’d expect there not to be more tax really.

Quite why those doing all the shrieking aren’t willing to make such simple checks is unknown.