Publisher Informa to move tax base back to the UK next year
PUBLISHING firm Informa Group yesterday said it would shift its tax base back to the UK, four years after it moved to Switzerland to escape former chancellor Alastair Darling’s proposal to tax foreign profits.
The group, which publishes titles including Lloyd’s List, plans to change its tax base in 2014, subject to shareholders voting through the plan.
“We anticipate no material change in reported tax rates or taxation paid as a result of the change in domicile,” the company said in a statement.
It decided to switch its tax base to Zug in May 2009 on the back of Darling’s budget, which laid plans to tax profits made on intellectual property rights overseas. Most of the firm’s revenues are made abroad and this would have driven its tax rate from 27 per cent to 36 per cent. The move back follows reforms to corporation tax by chancellor George Osborne, in a bid to entice more UK firms back to British shores.
Informa, led by boss Peter Rigby, also announced three new non-executive directors yesterday. Gareth Bullock formerly of Standard Chartered, Geoffrey Cooper from Travis Perkins and Helen Owers formerly of Thomson Reuters will join in January.