Multinationals in favour of tax break on inbound dividends

Almost all multinational companies with interests in the UK are in favour of tax exemptions on inbound dividends, a new survey has shown.

According to the survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), nine out of ten (90%) of the organisations are in favour of dividend exemption, which is at the centre of a big debate on taxing multinational organisations.

The survey also shows that eight out of ten of the companies would be willing to provide their financial data in order to convince the treasury to bring in the changes.

"It remains the case that multinationals are still supportive of the introduction of a dividend exemption," said Peter Cussons, PwC tax partner.

"Following the government’s recent response, the only route to getting such an exemption in 2009 would be by offering evidence that the fiscal risk could be manageable."

The Treasury is afraid that dropping the taxes would encourage large scale tax avoidance.