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10 Big Businesses That Have Moved Their Headquarters Abroad to Pay Less U.S. Taxes
Some call the practice of moving a company abroad to avoid taxes "corporate inversion," while others deem these businesses “expatriate corporations.” Whichever term you prefer, the fact is that several successful American companies have moved their headquarters overseas in recent years to avoid hefty U.S. taxes.
- Halliburton: Houston-based Halliburton, which offers a broad array of oil-field technologies and services to upstream oil and gas customers worldwide, announced the opening of a corporate headquarters in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai on March 12, 2007. The company, which was once led by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, said that its relocation was part of a strategy that it announced in mid-2006 to concentrate its efforts in the Middle East in order to attract business.
- Accenture:Consulting company Accenture is the Bermuda-based arm of the former Big Five accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP, which is known for its involvement in the Enron Corp. scandal. Accenture has done pretty well for itself, garnering $662 million in contracts between Oct. 1, 2001 and Sept. 30, 2002. The company has argued that its operations should not be called corporate inversion because while Arthur Andersen was based in the U.S., Accenture never was.
- Foster Wheeler Ltd.: The engineering firm Foster Wheeler moved its corporate headquarters to Bermuda in 2001, when the company was headed toward bankruptcy. Nearly 70 percent of Foster Wheeler's business comes from its international operations, and the move to Bermuda enabled the company to avoid paying taxes on income that it earned outside of the U.S. Most of the company's main offices remain in New Jersey.
- Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd.: This New Jersey-based company, which manufactures Thermo King refrigerated trucks, also moved to Bermuda in 2001. In 2007, the company faced an IRS (Internal Revenue Service) audit over the way it classified some debt in its reincorporation in Bermuda in 2002.
- Tyco International Ltd.: Manufacturers and providers of services in health care, flow control, security, telecommunications and electronics, Tyco International reincorporated in Bermuda in 1997. In 2002, Tyco International's chairman and CEO, L. Dennis Kozlowski, was indicted on charges that he had evaded more than $1 million in New York sales taxes.
- Cooper Industries Inc.: Cooper Industries, a company that makes electrical products and tools such as Halo and Lumière brand light fixtures, moved from Houston to Bermuda in 2002 and subsequently garnered $3.6 million in government contracts.
“We felt that American companies, based upon the tax laws that are written today, are clearly put at an economic disadvantage to foreign companies," said Victoria Guennewig, a spokeswoman for Cooper Industries, in defense of the company’s relocation.
- Noble Drilling Services Inc.: Noble, the fourth-largest U.S. offshore oil and natural-gas driller, calls the Cayman Islands home but operates out of Sugar Land, Texas. In 2002, the U.S. started a campaign to remove Noble and nine other American companies with offshore headquarters from the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Bermuda's Finance Minister, Eugene Cox, was outraged.
- Global Crossing: Global Crossing provides telecommunications solutions over the world's first integrated global IP-based network. The company is legally based in Bermuda, although its administrative headquarters are in New Jersey.
- Seagate Technology LLC: The California designer, manufacturer and marketer of rigid disk drives is run from the Cayman Islands. In December 2006, Seagate's Barracuda 750GB hard drive ranked No. 9 in PC World's "The 20 Most Innovative Products of the Year."
- Nabors Industries Ltd.: Nabors Industries, the world's biggest onshore oil and gas-drilling contractor, moved from Texas to Bermuda and Barbados in 2002. Nabors Industries apparently reported $428.4 million in profit in the U.S. in 2005 and would have paid $86 million in taxes on that money.
U.S. companies will surely continue to seek tax shelter in other countries, but only time will tell if they’ll be able to get away with this scheme.
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39 Comments
There is no such thing as a corporate tax. The bulk of corporate taxes are passed to you the consumer in the price of products and services that you use.
A corporate tax is a tax on you.
When is the US going to stop taxing people willing to invest and innovate in order to make a profit? This is what made America the country it is today.. or rather was about 20 years ago until corporate tax really took a major spike.. tax the rich more.. they’ll find a way to still stay rich and if that means the US is not the place to make that happen our country has to realize that before it’s another Euro disaster.
It is about time! I hope a lot of the large corporations move out of the US, maybe then they will actually consider the deficit and taxing the crap out of companies that actually create jobs.
Please boycott the big corporations because then you morons would not have access to the computer to spew your socialistic ideas and comments. What made America great is what the Goverment is trying to destroy. Smart!
i was a spreader/cutter in the apparel industries(sewing plants) making beautiful clothes,i helped a few close down to start ops in other countries where they get cheap-"cheap"labor-and the lables all still say"made in america"why-oh the"loophole"is "the material was made here in the us of a-so they can claim the clothes are also--bull-we are being put out of jobs for slave laborers in other countries...there are no sewing plants here anymore-soon other companies will do the same,alot already are,dont be fooled they arent really closing down!! just moving.
Something isn't working right here....
Wow when I read these comments I actually thought you guys were joking. But I guess your not. That is scary. Think of it this way. If you go to buy a car or really anything you should not shop around for the lowest price because that would be EVIL to not pay the highest price and tax as possible? You guys have to be kidding.
Keep on drinking the cool-aid you commies!
oh the poor multi BILLION dollar company being forced to pay minimum wage. oh the HUMANITY!
like they even keep the taxes "saved/stolen" from the public (health care, schools, roads, police/fire, etc).
oh YA, it TOTALLY goes towards more employees and not the pockets of the ceo's as profits.
delusional if you think they'll hire more employees /w it. some do but most pocket it and push the workload onto their already over worked workers.
standards are needed. higher tariffs for imported goods are needed.
FORCED to pay mimimum wage. Ya it's much better to axe our workers and promote slavery in another country. what retarded thinking. yay! lets all work for 2 bucks/day so we can't afford to BE consumers.
you outsource your country and theres nothing LEFT for normal people to work at except malls and retail stores.
these companies should have a tariff roughly equal to the taxes being evaded on so that it balances out the LOYAL companies still in our country/ies.
...are there any? wouldn't have access to computers b/c like American cars built here we couldn't drive either eh?
It would just force jobs and money to stay in OUR country instead of making China's elite rich while their population STILL starves (as they are underpaid).
Chris, won't deny I'm using a pc made in China/Asia /w slave labour. Most comps are. I'm saying that it needs to change and that industry should be brought back here to provide JOBS.
Ya it's a bit socialist and a bit more evolved then PURE capitalism (leaving the poor to die outside the hospital b/c they can't AFFORD to save their own life). Socialism makes SENSE. Taxes pay for things and without them civil jobs are lost. You buy on your beliefs I'll buy on mine.
Cooper is no long in Bermuda, the now incorporated out of Ireland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_Industries
Maybe is the USA didn't have the highest corporate taxes(or 2nd highest depending on who you ask) these businesses would operate here. American citizens have a lot higher tax burden than people realize...
This is scare and shows me how little people understand business. The reason companies are leaving is due to how much tax is leveled on the company. That is money they now don't have to pay and can be used for research, development, and OH YEA hiring more people....duh. The corporate structure treats the business as a separate person, a third party. It is a group or board. Not a individual. So this corp is evil, don't buy Seagate...these people are stupid. How much do you think Seagate invested in developing that new drive? Do you think they get a HUGE tax break on the jobs it created? NO. They don't now either, but it is balanced by the tax they didn't pay. I think Global Crossing was smart too. As we globalize business and offshore projects, government placement is not as important. So we need to think like a business, think customer support, etc when you talk about business and maybe you people would see it another way. Please....take time read Atlas Shrugged. We don't want to kill another Rearden Steel....
I own a small business and nearly anything I can do to avoid taxes (business or personal) I'll try. Maybe the US should think about lowering the business tax burden which would keep businesses enticed to stay here!
Damn I knew people on the internet were stupid, but Jesus. I don't think half of these commenters are speaking English.
What about Ikea? they are one of the worst of all... they are set up as a tax-exempt charity that pays a "franchise fee" to the Swedish family that owns them so the family gets the company profits tax free.
How a business is structured is up to the individuals who run it. All people's wants are unlimited. Attacking an entity because it is structured as a corporation is ridiculous. the government created that designation, not the business.
A free society is based on voluntary association between people. I am a 66 year old man who is also a first-generation American. My grandfather and great grandfather moved here from Russia in 1903. They were deserters from the Russian Army who was at war with the Japanese at that time. My family moved here for the same reasons that other immigrant families. They wanted to avoid the draft, stop being persecuted because of their religion and they were seeking greater economic opportunities. My family moved for all three reasons.
the first decade was the strongest economic decade of the twentieth century. there was no federal income tax or a central banking system. Laws against immigration virtually did not exist. The rate of growth averaged 7% per year. The unemployment rate was averaged 2% per year. Inflation averaged 1% per year. In the second decade the federal government implemented the income tax and created the government granted central bank monopoly known as the Federal Reserve.
The politicians lead this country into several wars, recessions and a constantly declining economic growth rate. All of these actions were implemented for the "greater good".
How a company is structured is only the concern of the owners. Those ignorant and/or arrogant elitist snobs are the cause of our economic malaise, not how a business is structured.
Business's are owned, managed and operated by and for people. The two most important variables that determine the success or the lack thereof of a business are its customers and its employees.
Fear tactics only will work for a limited time. Freedom and incentives builds loyalty.Allowing people tomake their own choices encourages innovation and prosperity.
The politicians are a bunch of thugs that use scare tactics in order to coerce people to do what they want. In the free market usually the cream rises to the top. In government, usually the crap rises to the top.
Focusing on the positive will yield positive results. Focusing on the negative will yield negative results. The government can not create prosperity. It is a zero sum game.
Yah had to love it when the IRS hired Accenture (about five years ago) to redo their public-facing web sites --
Please send the check to Bermuda and don't bother taxing us for the work...
What was it that Leona Hemsley stated about taxes and taxpayers? People might not look so downward at corporation that leave, if they didn't end up in some 3rd world countries, employing slave labor,......and this garbage about Obama is pure nonsense, look at the dates that most of these corp. left this country. Hell Obama wasn't even in politic yet. Start looking at when all of these mega bonuses and golden parachute start popping up everywhere. This is a ploy by corporation to milk evey penny out of this country for a select few. The US GOVT should not allow these businesses to hve bid or no bid contracts from this govt. They want to be free willing and money making, let them drill in Barbados or one of those other off shore island countries
DJ, i don't understand your thought process. By all accounts these companies still operate within US law and get to take advantage of all the benefits of being a US company but yet they don't pay taxes to the country that allowed them to originally grow and flourish? It's one thing to get up and move your business somewhere else, but i can speak to at least one of these companies (i worked for them) when i say they have a little approximately one person sitting in a room in some building somewhere acting as the 'headquarters' of the corporation.
Going on your twisted logic, if i'm smart enough to steal electricity from your home and have you pay for it, does that make it fair & legal because i was smart enough to think of it?
John, corporations in the US don't pay taxes like you and I. We get taxed ahead of time and anything left over is ours to spend. Corporations spend money, and anything left over is what they get taxed on.
wow people are so stupid. the solution is for the US government to stop taxing entrepreneurs so much, these are the guys taking all the risks and creating all the jobs. contrary to what you may think, profits are a good thing, they're the most efficient method of improving productivity and raising living standards. the USA became the greatest country in the world using free market capitalism as its driving force. Do you people really think an investor shouldn't have the basic freedom to invest his money where he wishes? that he HAS to keep his factory in the USA where he's forced to pay minimum wage / heavy taxes / healthcare plans etc etc. Be realistic, this is all the US governments fault.
Oh and Ed, your not maximizing profits, your cheating the government (so in essence, we the people) out of the tax obligations you are entitled to pay!!
I dont think our government should do any buisness with any company that doesnt pay their fair share of taxes The includes states and us government Especially Halleburton.
KISS MY ASS ACCENTURE ! Its amazing how this IT consultancy has managed to survive in the industry. It is a big scam. Not only they scam the clients but also their own employees. No wonder the staff has a turn over rate of 1-6 months !
To all Accenture share holders – Sell now before the company collapses because of the sheer weight of law suits against them. Law suits risen from immigration scams, client budget scams, employee abuse etc.
I wasted the few years that I spent there. I wish I had moved out of the company much earlier. The only thing that stopped me was the Global Financial Meltdown. Now that I am out of the sh1tty company, feel like a cross has been lifted from my shoulders.
Accenture should be tried in International Court of Justice for crime against humanity.
Well I was just looking for a list of all businesses in the world (why? CLOTHES! FOOD! TOYS! GOODIES! But I must not be greedy), but I don't seem to find a list like that (it would be interesting to try more kinds of food than what we have at home, you know, trying new foods sounds like a tasty adventure. What does stuffed crab taste like? Never had it, but want it, so like food businesses hee hee... )
THE SYSTEM OF FREE ENTERPRISE MAKES ME RICH! (I don't want to sound greedy but its not Christmas, wait my birthday!) O.O
You see I got those lovely rabbit furs from a store in the mall...those lovely candles from...um...the mall and that Nintendo GameCube from...um...the mall.
=D
Well if you guys don't give me a list I think ill go look for it myself.
GOOGLE...are they a "crap" company? They are doing the same thing with having headquarters in Dublin and other European countries.....
Corporations should pay a fair tax because they receive services and benefits from the governments under which they operate. They move product on highways and over bridges. They have police and fire protection. They work under laws that prevent unfair competition. They receive tax breaks for growing jobs, doing research, and other services they perform. They are provided opportunity for fair trade. These benefits and services cost the public. The USA is almost 25% of the entire global market. This gives entrepreneurs huge advantage in creating new start-ups. If they want to move out of their country of origin to save taxes, fine; just deny them access to our markets, our services, and the protection being part of our free country provides. They'll then come back with their tails between their legs.
Looks like there is a common theme here. Island, tropical weather, low taxes. Some large companies have recently stated that State taxes are out of control and that they would move to a different State to avoid these taxes altogether. Companies choose States that give them the most breaks all the time. Can you blame these companies? This is something that regulators need to take a strong look at. These companies oftentimes don't have to be located in the United States but it would be nice if they were as they do employ thousands of people.
No I can not blame these companies.But we the people of the USA must wake up .We are not the Nation we use to be .We must protect our Nation at all cost.I hate paying taxes but I can't avoid it. We pay taxes here in the USA.We must find a way to keep this companies here in the USA .If they move because of higher taxes .We should taxes them even the more to bring their products back into the USA.All the States in the USA should have the same tax laws.We the people must fight for this Great Nation of our.We can no longer sell our Nation out the people.We must Love the people .Protect the peoples of this Great Nation jobs.
If corporations are people too, moving companies offshore amounts to reneging American citizenship. Why are they still considered American companies?
When companies pull out of USA,then consumers should focus only on companies products produced in the USA by workers who live and pay taxes in the USA,tell the ones who leave we are through with you foreign thinking.
This should be a wake up call for the corporation hating Obama White House. The more we punish the companies that have made the U.S. a leader in the world, the more they will just go elsewhere. The government bashes and taxes evil corporations to death, then wonders why there are no jobs here any more. We should be rolling out the red carpet for companies to come HERE and do business, not flee to Bermuda and Dubai to make a buck.
These are crap companies anyway. Accenture? Hallliburton? Tyco? This is a who's-who in failure and corruption. Good riddance.
Yay, paragons of corruption and illegal accounting. Am I supposed to be worried about these types of companies leaving?
HA!
I bought a Seagate hard drive. I was looking on who to boycott as they aren't "contributing to their fellow man".
I'll start buying western digital hard drives from now on. No more Seagate drives for me.
I'm in Canada, not America but I can't support guys thinking that "their fair share" is profit lost. Taxes are an obligation and write offs are one thing but to outright move while continuing operations is dishonourable.
Thank God the net shows the evils of corporate life. The rabbit is dinner to the fox, the fox is the hand of death to the rabbit.
We can't have moves like this. Corporate tax evaders aren't trying to save a few thousand bucks, they are outright STEALING MILLIONS from their fellow Camerican.
Funny that Halliburton, America's top defence contractor would sell them out on contributing BACK to America! That REALLY made me laugh out loud! So much for being patriotic and honourable. Freaking scum.
I'm surpised at the hate being spewed for these companies. I'm just a small business wondering if I should move my business to another state besides MI for the same reason these companies move offshore.
Politicians like to talk about making US biz competitive with foreign biz, yet when they do people whine.
Why blame a company for trying to maximize their profits. Why not blame your politicians for creating the environment that is destroying the country?
Their should move themselves and their entire operations there too!
Corporations should be forced to pay whatever taxes people demand that they pay! Corporations are EVIL!
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