ORC's 2008 Global Tax Policy Survey Report reveals that the tax reimbursement policy followed by the majority of companies for company-source income, regardless of nationality is full tax equalisation with the company paying actual taxes – including year-end reconciliation of hypothetical tax deductions.

This is the predominant practice among North American multinationals (81.5 percent). Sixty-four percent of European companies surveyed also followed this approach with 28.6 percent applying a tax equalisation policy without the year-end reconciliation.

Participants were predominantly located in the Americas (78.3 percent ), with 20 percent of being located in Europe and the remaining 1.7 percent in Asia.

Instead of three separate reports, ORC's annual Tax Policy Survey report for 2008 combined data into one report to show similarities or differences among home-country tax policies.

The survey ranked at four in the Expatica HR 2007/2008 Top 5 Industry Survey Awards, scoring highly for methodology and readablity.

Key findings for all nationalities included:

• Almost all participating companies deduct a hypothetical tax.
• Base salary and, in most cases, actual bonuses are included as income items in the hypothetical tax calculation. Close to half of participants will also include stock options in the calculation.
• Tax reimbursement policy for non-company-source income varies significantly between North American and European multinationals. Forty-four percent of North American companies tax equalise most non-company source income compared to 21.4 percent of European companies. Close to one-third of North American companies take a laissez-faire approach versus close to two-thirds of Europeans.
• Policies vary significantly on tax equalisation of spousal income if earned in the home country. Forty-three percent of North American multinationals take a laissez-faire approach, with 37.1 percent including this income in their tax equalisation policy. European multinationals are far more inclined to take a laissez-faire approach as indicated by 75 percent of companies versus only 25 percent including this income under tax equalisation. Where spousal income is earned in the host country, less than 25 percent of companies will tax equalise this income, with at least two-thirds taking a laissez-faire approach.
• Only company-source income is used to establish the estimated hypothetical tax by the majority of companies for all nationalities.
• For all nationalities, the majority of companies use the gross-up method of tax reimbursement. Participants are more likely to use the one-year rollover method for Swiss expatriates than for other nationalities.