The firms that avoid creating tax bases in major markets
Historically, tax residence has been determined by where companies make sales. By basing themselves in countries like Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland — which offer low tax rates or the ability to send money tax-free to tax havens — these companies legally save tens of billions in tax.
Many of the firms examined declare Irish subsidiaries as their sole or primary tax bases in Europe, even though they operate others in countries like Britain, France, or Germany where most of their sales or marketing staff are based. This helped them to pay an average effective tax rate on overseas income of 5.7%, less than half Ireland’s 12.5% headline rate of corporate income tax.
