After Airbus and BMW, it is the turn of Panasonic to decide to move its headquarters “back into” the European Union.
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The Japanese company, mainly known for their cameras and TVs, has confirmed they would be moving their headquarters from London in the UK to Amsterdam due to Brexit. The company had been considering the move for a few months now and specified the main reasons behind this relocation were fears of more taxes in Japan, as well as losing access to the European market.
The Japanese company fears that, once the UK leaves the EU, it may lower its tax rates to attract businesses, and therefore be considered by the Japanese government as a tax heaven, increasing the tax burden on Japanese companies at home. On top of this, the company wants to avoid not being able to access the free flow of goods and people.
Panasonic’s UK headquarters employ some 30 people. Half of them will be moved to the Netherlands, while the other half will remain in the UK.
The move will be done around October of this year (2018).
Panasonic is not the first Japanese company to move its headquarters out of the UK. It also seems that Japanese businesses are especially worried about the uncertainty around Brexit.
Some critics, especially Brexiters, point out that most companies moving out of the UK were going through financial difficulties and used Brexit as an excuse to legitimize moving out of the country, with others pointed out that picking the Netherlands out of all European countries is just a move to pay less tax, while blaming Brexit. Others are worried of losing access to the European single market and potential duties on goods and services.
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