Medtronic Not Concerned About Latest U.S. Effort to Curb Tax Inversions

By Ezequiel Minaya 

Medical-device company Medtronic PLC said Friday that the Treasury Department's latest effort to curb the tax benefits of companies moving their headquarters overseas wouldn't "have a material financial impact," on the company.

Since last year U.S. regulators have cracked down on tax-beneficial corporate migrations known as inversions. On Thursday, the Treasury Department issued its latest notice seeking to limit the benefits that occur when a U.S. company acquires a foreign subsidiary and moves its headquarters overseas seeking to slash its tax bill.

Medtronic acquired Dublin-based Covidien PLC earlier this year. That acquisition allowed Medtronic to move its headquarters from Minneapolis to Dublin, the latest in a wave of such moves that have been occurring most notably in the pharmaceutical sector.

Over the past couple of years, the combination of low foreign tax rates and creative financial structuring, layered on top of a global mergers-and-acquisitions boom, has been a potent incentive to the trend.

Medtronic didn't explicitly reference any tax benefits when addressing its move to Ireland but said that the "acquisition of Covidien, which closed in January of 2015, was undertaken for strategic reasons and has created a company that is positively impacting the lives of more patients, in more ways and in more places around the world."

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 20, 2015 07:56 ET (12:56 GMT)

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