Bank lobby hopes tax data will sway UK's stance in Brexit talks

LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The banking sector in Britaincontributed about 5.5 percent of government tax receipts in theyear ending in March, the banks' main lobby group said in areport it said underlines the sector's importance as thegovernment prepares for Brexit talks.

A report commissioned by the British Bankers' Association(BBA) surveyed 36 British and foreign banks and calculated allbanks in Britain helped pay or collect about 34.2 pounds ($42billion) in tax for the government over the period.

This included collecting 17.8 billion pounds in employmenttaxes, paying 3.4 billion pounds to cover the bank levyintroduced in response to the financial crisis and paying 3.2billion pounds in corporation tax, the report said.

Some large banks who use London to run their EU operationshave said they could start moving staff as early as 2017 ifthere is no clarity on whether Britain will retain access to thesingle market.

About half of the total taxes came from foreign banks,according to a report commissioned by the British Bankers'Association (BBA), the UK's largest bank lobby group.

"Brexit may introduce uncertainty over the contribution fromforeign banks in the future," the report said.

There is growing speculation that banks based in Britainwill lose their rights to sell services freely across theEuropean Union after the country voted in June to leave theeconomic bloc.

The BBA said the purpose of the study was to quantify banks'tax contribution.

This comes ahead of Britain's divorce talks with the EU nextyear when the government will have to prioritise what sectors toseek the best possible terms of trade for. (Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by David Clarke andAlexander Smith)