HM Revenue & Customs has stepped up its investigations into profit shifting by multinationals, according to statistics that suggest a sharp increase in the scale of “transfer pricing” enquiries. Just over £1bn of tax linked to transfer pricing – the pricing of inter-company transactions such as interest payments and royalties – was under investigation in July 2012, an increase of 47 per cent over the previous year, according to figures obtained from a freedom of information request by Pinsent Masons, a law firm. Transfer pricing came under the spotlight last year after MPs accused multinationals including Amazon, Starbucks, and Google of deliberately transferring profits from the UK to lower-tax jurisdictions to reduce their UK liability.