PwC reveals its tax bill: £305,000 per partner

PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the big four accountants, has for the first time divulged how much tax its senior UK staff hand over to the Treasury – about £305,000 per partner.

Speaking to The Independent on the release of PwC's annual results today, senior partner Ian Powell said the firm decided to show the tax contribution as there is "currently such a lot of focus on people paying their way".

Bankers have been bashed for their bonus payments and non-domiciles for tax avoidance, and the Shareholder Spring highlighted executives' mammoth pay packets.

However, PwC clients hoping that their accountant is finding ways to help them save money may be surprised to learn that the 872 partners do not seem to be very effective at trimming their own tax bills. Including Nat-ional Insurance contributions, they paid an effective tax rate of around 47 per cent, up from 46 per cent last year, for a combined total of £266m.

However, the average profit paid out to each UK partner, excluding 30 on secondment overseas, was nearly £800,000, up from £763,000 last year. This reflected a seven per cent growth in revenue, which came in at £2.62bn.

Mr Powell said: "We're pretty pleased with revenue against the backcloth of the economic environment. That's the advantage of a partnership: we can take medium and long-term views."

He said that he had up to £100m to spend on acquisitions over the next 12 months, with deals likely in Central and Eastern Europe, India and "especially" the Middle East. He also wants to bulk up his consulting, forensic accounting and regulatory teams in the UK.

Mr Powell was re-elected unopposed as senior partner earlier this year. PwC's reputation has this year been hit by several investigations into its auditing of big-name firms, but has only accepted any wrongdoing in a case involving JPMorgan, where it was fined a record £1.4m.