Top UK companies listed on the FTSE 100 Index of shares cut their average tax rate by almost a third over the last two years to 26 per cent compared with 35.8 per cent in 2009 and 30.1 per cent last year, Reuters reports.

The lower tax rate partially reflects a cut in the headline corporate tax rate to 26 per cent from 28 per cent in the UK, but the research found it was also caused by some UK companies moving their headquarters overseas, according to UHY Hacker Young.

"With more of companies' operations now based overseas it is only sensible for them to ensure that their business is structured properly so that they are paying tax at the best rate," Roy Maugham, tax partner at UHY Hacker Young, was quoted as saying.

In research issued on its website earlier in October, the firm said the UK has one of the lowest rates in terms of taxes payable among the Group of Eight major industrialised nations, at 20 per cent. The highest is Japan, at 42 per cent.

While not a strict wealth management issue, the different corporate tax rates, and the fact that some companies listed on the FTSE 100, such as mining firms, are predominantly located abroad, highlights the importance of the UK in maintaining a competitive tax regime on individuals as well as firms.