King of the North

[Kardan]

As Salmond explains in his answer- corporate tax is based on economic activity, not in where their HQ is. Ie if the banking stays the same the taxes stay same (of course unless corporate tax rates change etc.)

Multinationals typically want to be tax resident in the UK rather than elsewhere because tax rules are more "friendly" than in other countries, such as the US, Mr Stevens said.

For example, in the UK, when a holding company distributes profits as dividends to shareholders, the company does not pay tax on the profits, but it does in the US.

This becomes especially interesting for companies if their subsidiaries are tax resident in countries with lenient tax rules.

For example, if a subsidiary or "operating" company is tax resident in a place such as the Cayman Islands, which has no corporation tax, then profits can be funnelled up to the holding company in the UK, and distributed to shareholders as dividends, without the company paying tax on those dividends.

If there is a majority Yes vote in Scotland, when it becomes independent it will have the same friendly regime as the rest of the UK. However, the two parallel sets of rules would gradually diverge over time, Mr Stevens said.

It may be that an independent Scotland's tax regime is eventually more attractive to multinational companies than the UK.

However, there's no indication that Scotland would become either more or less attractive to holding companies.

So basically, these international companies are in the UK for a reason. If Independence happens, they won't be in the UK, and whilst initially there's no difference in taxes, it could all change now that Scotland have control over that. So it's just security really. These companies don't want things to change for the worse, so they're making sure of that by making sure they're staying with the same UK tax system.

Of course, for all we know, Scotland could change the tax system to be better than the UK, and you could easily have companies coming back to Scotland. But there is a difference on tax depending on which country you're in.

[A4R0N]

So basically, these international companies are in the UK for a reason. If Independence happens, they won't be in the UK, and whilst initially there's no difference in taxes, it could all change now that Scotland have control over that. So it's just security really. These companies don't want things to change for the worse, so they're making sure of that by making sure they're staying with the same UK tax system.

Of course, for all we know, Scotland could change the tax system to be better than the UK, and you could easily have companies coming back to Scotland. But there is a difference on tax depending on which country you're in.

so basically the bbc and the no campaign are scaremongering who'd have thought it

[scottish]

So what happens if our taxes aren't more attractive than the UK then what?

like I don't care what it's doing, if they're in the UK then they're benefiting from the UK system how, if they're paying Scotland taxes and not the UK?

If what alex says is true, then having your HQ in Scotland or UK doesn't matter, as they're operating here and it's going to cost them whatever we charge for corp tax?

Obviously UK = safety of BoE backup. Independent Scotland = no financial backup

[Kardan]

so basically the bbc and the no campaign are scaremongering who'd have thought it

I wouldn't say the BBC are, that text I quoted was from the BBC. They're actually explaining that what the no campaign is saying isn't as bad as it sounds initially. I would agree that the No campaign (Even though I am on their side) is exaggerating things to make independence sound bad - but for sure there's also times where I think the independence campaign are saying exaggerated things to make an independent Scotland sound better than it would be in reality. (E.g Salmond's figures on oil income).

It works both ways, and quite frankly, I don't think it would be possible with either side doing some exaggerating.