Big jump in search for cheaper taxbase outside UK
Deloitte's latest survey shows a big jump in companies searching for cheaper taxbase outside the UK
The latest
Deloitte
survey of finance directors’ outlooks reveals the number of companies looking at
moving their corporate base outside the UK to a cheaper tax regime more than
doubled in the third quarter – up from 13% to 29%.
‘Chief financial officers are preparing for a more prolonged period of
distress in credit markets than they had earlier expected, with cost-cutting and
cash-preservation coming to the fore. There is also a growing readiness to
contemplate more radical options such as off-shoring and dividend cuts, a
reflection of the growing intensity of the slowdown,’ Margaret Ewing, Deloitte
partner and vice chairman, told The Independent.
The survey also showed the financial outlook among FDs fell in the third
quarter of this year at the fastest rate since the financial crisis began.
Most companies planned to cut employee numbers and slash investment in their
businesses as credit dried up and a majority of respondents said they thought
credit conditions were unlikely to improve before the second half of 2009 or
later in contrast with an earlier outlook that conditions would ease by the
middle of next year.
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