The U.S. Treasury department just made it more difficult for corporations to move their headquarters to lower tax countries, an effort to slow the recent trend of corporate inversions plaguing the Fed by decreasing their tax revenue. Is it too late to cancel my ticket to Ireland?
To clarify, corporations reincorporate to a tax-friendlier country while still keeping their U.S. operations intact. Essentially they get the best of both worlds… or both countries in this case. Some recent examples are Burger King acquiring Tim Horton to move to Canada or Abbvie acquiring Shire to move to Ireland. Corporate inversions are technically legal but have received a large amount of criticism. President Obama has suggested that corporate inversions are unpatriotic, given they still participate in the U.S. markets but are not subject to the taxing regulations.
Companies used to simply park their profits overseas, where U.S. tax authorities could not reach until it is brought home. The problem is that the companies could not make much use of the money while it is overseas.
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Source: Michael Hennel (www.linkedin.com)