Tracking Tax Runaways
More large U.S. companies are effectively renouncing their U.S. citizenship by adopting a legal address abroad. They’re being driven away by the highest corporate income tax in the developed world, and helped by a tax code so porous that they can choose from several means of escape. The most popular move, known as an “inversion,” allows a company to change its country of incorporation without a change in majority ownership, management, or headquarters.
Updated April 13, 2015
After a Lull,
Inversions Surge Again
A wave of inversions stopped abruptly in 2002, when U.S. legislators pledged action to prevent them. Not long after the anti-inversion bill passed Congress in 2004, a new wave of inversions began, making use of exceptions to the law.
Where Corporate Expatriates Have Gone
U.S. companies that shift their place of incorporation to another country tend to pick ones with low or no corporate income taxes. Bermuda was the most popular destination a decade ago; now it's Ireland.
Corporate Expatriates: See the Data
The roster of corporate expats includes inverted companies and former divisions that they spun off as independent entities, as well as U.S. firms that got a foreign address through a leveraged buyout or other ownership change.
| Current name/ expatriation type |
Previous U.S. headquarters |
New incorporation 1 |
Year completed |
Top execs based in U.S. |
|---|
1 – For companies that have changed incorporation more than once, indicates latest place of incorporation.
2 – Xoma reincorporated from Bermuda to the United States in 2011.
Source: Data compiled by Bloomberg
GRAPHIC: ZACHARY MIDER / BLOOMBERG NEWS; DAVID INGOLD & Keith Collins / BLOOMBERG VISUAL DATA