Forums Forums National News Bye bye Panasonic

Panasonic is to move its HQ from the UK to Amsterdam.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45351288

And a list of other Japanese companies are also planning to desert the sinking ship too.

Well, done you brexiteers! We don't want these foreign companies here!

Up to 20 employees could be affected by the move from the UK to Amsterdam.

So Panasonic are currently using the UK to reduce the amount of Japanese tax they have to pay and are worried that after Brexit they would pay LESS UK tax and hence more Japanese tax. This is nothing to do with Brexit, its just another company mobilising its tax bill to avoid tax.

The whole of the tax operations on the international market need to be re-hashed, its ridiculous that tax is sometimes being paid in countries where the product has never been whereas the country where it is manufactured or sold to receive next to nothing.

The point is not that 20 UK employees may lose their jobs, but rather that decision making will be made in Amsterdam, not London, and Dutch sensibilities will play a part in them rather than UK ones.

A headquarters with only twenty people in it doesn’t sound like a section making board.

Was supposed to be "A headquarters with only twenty people in it doesn’t sound like a decision making board"

I imagine the billions of profit made by various divisions of the company across Europe will be channeled through this small outfit. This will make a significant contribution to our balance of trade. Well, it would have had they not decided to move it to Amsterdam. I guess it will be helping the Netherlands' trade figures from now on.

It is by no means the only company to find it advantageous to move with Europe's financial centre of gravity from London to somewhere in the EU. After March next year the exodus will no doubt accelerate, assuming brexit goes ahead.

Its all a tax avoidance scheme, the holding company was already in the Netherlands as was their finance group. I doubt the UK saw much corporate tax paid.

Actually Panansonic UK is a branch of Panasonic GMBH where they pay about 0.1% of their revenue in tax to Germany.

Here are their full accounts

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/company/FC030039/filing-history/MzE5NDIzMTg3NGFkaXF6a2N4

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Interesting find, DD - while browsing that site, I spotted this listing for "PANASONIC BUSINESS SUPPORT EUROPE GMBH", established in the UK a mere two months ago. Make of that what you will. I smell "restructuring, but can't leave an open goal in an important market".

There will always be those who are happy to let "Brexit" be to blame for all these clandestine activities, and there will also be occasions when emerging facts show them to be little more than vultures of epicaricacy.