Fast food giants McDonalds are the latest major US company to move their European headquarters from the UK to Switzerland.
Others now based in Switzerland include Kraft, Procter & Gamble, Colgate Palmolive, Yahoo and Google. McDonalds will still run the UK section of their business from London, but European operations will be run from Zurich.
McDonalds opened its first restaurant in London in 1974.
Several large UK companies have also moved, or are about to move, their tax residency abroad, Shire pharmaceuticals, Regus and Brit Insurance being just three.
Publishing company Informa moved their base of operations, and tax residency, to Switzerland earlier this year after changes to the taxation of foreign profits linked to intellectual property rights, such as patents and trademarks, were announced in this year’s Budget.
The company believes it would end up paying twice because of a UK tax on dividends from intellectual property rights abroad.