Vodafone paid millions to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to settle a dispute over tax returns of its Irish subsidiary, The Guardian revealed. The telecom provider allegedly used an Irish unit to collect hundreds of millions of pounds a year in royalty payments from operating companies and joint ventures around the world.According to accounts filed in Dublin, the British tax authority in 2009 agreed to a settlement with Vodafone which reclaimed €67m from the Irish government in tax that should have been paid in the UK. The size of the settlement was not disclosed."Vodafone conducts itself in full compliance with the law and always operates under a policy of full transparency with the tax authorities in all countries in which we operate," the company said in statement in response to the article.During a four-year period, Vodafone collected royalty payments from most countries expect the UK and Italy, which helped the firm send more than €1.0bn worth of dividends to the low tax jurisdiction of Luxembourg from Dublin.Vodafone has come under fire in recent years after admitting it had not paid corporation tax in Britain for two years due to strict operating conditions in the country.RD