Call to stem company exodus

Compliance costs: John Cullinane

The calls follow Shire Pharmaceutical’s decision last week to change tax residency from the UK to Ireland because of uncertainty about the possible new regime.

Senior tax figures believe Treasury officials have got their priorities wrong by forgetting that corporation tax raises 10% of the UK’s total tax income, a better yield than any tax gained from overseas entities.

Bill Dodwell, head of tax policy at Deloitte, said: ‘We would like to see the focus on protecting the UK tax base, rather than on charging UK tax on overseas income. The UK should offer a favourable tax route for this mobile income to encourage companies to be based here.’

John Cullinane, former president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, agrees: ‘There will be lots of compliance costs to delve down into what foreign companies are earning. There’s already anti-avoidance legislation to stop companies shoving cash to foreign subsidiaries and not paying tax.

‘They should look at tax collection and really need to protect this, rather than taxing intellectual property and other passive income around the world.’

Other companies which have moved their UK HQ recently include Shell, Experian, Invesco and insurers Hiscox and Omega.