One Direction paid 1,900 times more tax than Facebook

Yes, One Direction paid almost 1,900 times more UK tax than Facebook did last year.

The five original members, including Zayn Malik who left the band in March, handed the taxman £8.24m from their company 1D Media, after recording a pre-tax profit of £45.4m.

Facebook paid just £4,327 in 2014 - which led to criticism from politicians.

The social media giant reported a loss of £28.5m after paying British staff £35m in bonuses.

At the time, Facebook said: "We are compliant with UK tax law, and, in fact, in all countries where we have operations and offices," adding that British employees paid UK income tax on their salaries.

Including duties paid overseas, One Direction's tax bill was £10.5m, leaving a take-home profit of £34.9m - a huge improvement on 2013 when the band paid £1.1m in tax and took home £3.7m.

The remaining members, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, are set to take a break in March to pursue solo projects.

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