Palantir is benefiting from millions of pounds of tax deductions that allow it to pay very little corporate tax in the United Kingdom despite soaring profits, an investigation by openDemocracy reveals.
The controversial tech firm has won at least £670m in UK public contracts in recent years, which have helped to make the country its second-largest market by revenue after the United States, where it is headquartered. Yet despite accounting for 10% of the company’s global revenue last year, its tax payments in the UK amounted to less than 5% of its total global cash tax spend, according to US filings.
The filings suggest Palantir’s UK subsidiary paid less than $1.08m (£820,000) in cash tax in the UK in 2025 – less than it paid in Korea, Japan, France and Germany – after accumulating tax deductions due to stock prices. Palantir’s stock has surged since the company went public in 2020, peaking in 2025 before paring back gains this year.
In 2024, Palantir’s UK subsidiary reported pre-tax profits of £25.3m, but assessed its local corporate tax requirement as only around £2m, according to the latest accounts filed with Companies House. This puts its annual corporate tax rate at roughly 8% – far lower than the 25% usually paid by businesses with profits over £250,000 in the UK.
In 2023, the company’s tax rate was lower still, at 4.7% on pre-tax profits of approximately £19.1m, and in 2022 it was 4.2% on pre-tax profits of around £19.9m. Its UK accounts are not yet available for 2025 onwards. Taken together, that’s just £3.7m of tax on £63.4m in cumulative pre-tax profits over three years.
