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Posted By: Excoriator Bye bye Panasonic - 30th Aug 2018 10:03am
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!
Posted By: Capt_America Re: Bye bye Panasonic - 30th Aug 2018 12:51pm
Up to 20 employees could be affected by the move from the UK to Amsterdam.
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: Bye bye Panasonic - 30th Aug 2018 4:17pm
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.
Posted By: Excoriator Re: Bye bye Panasonic - 31st Aug 2018 12:06am
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.
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: Bye bye Panasonic - 31st Aug 2018 8:52am
A headquarters with only twenty people in it doesn’t sound like a section making board.
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: Bye bye Panasonic - 31st Aug 2018 10:10am
Originally Posted by diggingdeeper
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"
Posted By: Excoriator Re: Bye bye Panasonic - 31st Aug 2018 10:39am
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.
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: Bye bye Panasonic - 3rd Sep 2018 5:23pm
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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Posted By: MisterSmiff Re: Bye bye Panasonic - 4th Sep 2018 2:13pm
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.
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