Facebook paid a tax rate of just 3.6% on profits outside America last year thanks to its offshore tax avoidance, accounts show. The world's biggest social media company paid only $123 million in foreign tax despite pre-tax profits of $3.39 billion on sales of $9.41 billion in countries outside America, according to the newly published US annual report. By contrast, Facebook paid a much higher rate of 35 per cent in its home country where it had a tax bill of $3.01 billion on sales of $8.51 billion.