OREANDA-NEWS. SSE has been ranked the 15th largest corporate taxpayer in the UK, in the annual PWC UK Total Tax Contribution (TTC) survey - despite being only the 30th largest company in the FTSE 100. This follows SSE's accreditation in October as the first FTSE 100 company to be awarded the Fair Tax Mark.

In the 2013/14 financial year SSE paid a total of almost £430m in business taxes. In the last PWC TTC survey, covering the financial year 2012/13, SSE was ranked the 22nd largest tax payer, having paid £310m in business taxes.

The survey has again highlighted that while Corporation tax accounts for approximately 27% of the tax paid by SSE, the largest element of SSE's tax payments are the business rates charged on the properties and land that SSE uses across the UK, including offices, wind farms, thermal power stations, transmission lines and distribution substations. These business rates to local authorities across the UK represented 33% of the total taxes paid by SSE in 2013/14.

Gregor Alexander, SSE's Finance Director said: "Paying our fair share of tax is important to SSE. That is why last month we were proud to be the FTSE 100 company to be accredited with the Fair Tax Mark. The results of the PWC TTC survey again reinforce the impact of the positive approach SSE takes on tax, with our ranking for total taxes paid being significantly higher than our position in the FTSE 100.

"While the amount of tax we pay on our profits through Corporation tax matters to many people, and rightly receives a lot of scrutiny, the PWC TTC survey usefully focusses on the total taxes borne by a company. This recognises that a company's tax contribution in the UK is more than just what it pays through Corporation tax. In SSE's case this is very significant, because our largest contribution is actually the business rates we pay to the local authorities throughout the UK. This, together with the employment related taxes we pay, reinforces the important contribution SSE makes to all of the parts of UK society in which we operate."

Every year the professional services firm, PWC, surveys 100 of the UK's largest companies to assess the total tax contribution made by these companies in the last financial year. The survey collects data from participating members of the 100 Group using PwC's Total Tax Contribution methodology. It looks at all of the taxes that a company pays and collects on behalf of government, including business rates, employment taxes, VAT and other business taxes as well as Corporation tax.