§ Mr. Leeasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many public companies formerly registered in the United Kingdom have been permitted to remove their domicile for tax purposes out of the United Kingdom since 1st January 1973; how many private companies have been permitted to do this; how many of either 593W category of company have transferred to other countries in the Common Market; what criteria govern the granting or withholding of permission; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonUnder Section 482 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970, a company resident in the United Kingdom which plans to move its residence outside the United Kingdom must obtain the consent of the Treasury. Since 1st January 1973, 15 publicly-quoted companies and 299 private and unquoted companies—making a total of 314 in all—have been given specific consent under this section. Of this total, 41, including one publicly-quoted company, have moved their residence to other countries in the Common Market.
In deciding whether to give consent, the Treasury apply the criteria implicit in the terms of reference of the advisory panel on Section 482 matters, that is:
They will take into account the significance of any new factors or circumstances which are represented to require the proposed change and any compelling reasons for such applications based on the efficiency and development of the applicant's operations. The Committee will weight against considerations of this kind the prospective loss of revenue or of foreign exchange to this country which the transaction, if permitted, would entail, and they will inform the Chancellor whether, on a balance of considerations it would, in their opinion, be in the national interest that permission should be granted.