Big Four accountancy firms deny 'playing an illegitimate game' on tax and tell MPs they benefit Britain Ms Hodge told the group that certain activities to reduce tax liabilities were "shocking," and said companies which deliberately advise wealthy firms and individuals on how to cut the tax they pay to the Treasury should be barred from receiving lucrative public sector contracts. Her comments related to practices - all technically legal - such as headquartering a company in a low-tax jurisdiction or moving money from one arm of a company to another to erode declared profits, and therefore corporation tax, in higher-tax nations. The firms were also criticised for offering to advise clients on tax legislation they had a hand in designing. Ms Hodge targeted KPMG head of tax Jane McCormick by highlighting the Government secondment of a KPMG employee to advise parliamentarians on legislation offering tax relief on profits gained from intellectual property rights - the so-called patent box. "The guy who helped write the law goes back and supports your clients in using that law to a purpose for which it was never intended [tax avoidance]," said Ms Hodge. You're a poacher turned gamekeeper, then you go back and become a poacher again. The grilling comes one week after Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to lead a global crackdown on tax avoidance, telling companies that do not pay their taxes to "wake up and smell the coffee" in a speech delivered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Mr Cameron's pledge follows months of controversy over the tax affairs of multinationals which has seen the PAC haul up executives from global companies - including Google, Amazon and Starbucks -to testify on their tax structures. Starbucks - which is audited by Deloitte - caved into public outrage by offering £10m a year to HMRC over the next two years, after it emerged the coffee chain paid no UK corporation tax last year despite making sales of £398m. However Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt remained unapologetic over the internet giant's strategies to minimise tax, saying "It's called capitalism."