Drugs giant wins £312m off taxman - 29th Mar 2011

PROFITS at drugs giant ASTRAZENECA are to be boosted by an extra £312million this year thanks to a windfall from the taxman.

The firm has been in dispute with revenue officials in the US and Britain for ten years over how much they must pay in each country for goods sold between subsidiaries.

Officials were also chasing taxes relating to the merger of AZ's US businesses in 2000. AZ set aside £1.43billion to settle any tax bill.

But they have now been told they will only have to fork out £690million.

As a result, the company has decided to add £312million from its "emergency fund" to this year's first quarter profits. Total profits in 2010 totalled almost £7billion. AZ had been selling drugs developed and made in the UK to one of its American subsidiaries where they were then sold to patients.

An AZ spokesman said: "It had to be decided how much tax was paid here and how much in the US. We didn't want to pay twice. Read More

Note: For those who do not know who AstraZeneca is, this company was Raided by the EU Watchdog in a Drug probe during 2010

AstraZeneca today admitted its offices had been raided by European Union competition officials over concerns about possible collusion to keep cheaper copies of its blockbuster heartburn drug Nexium off the market. Read Full Article