Savings from moving R&D to take advantage of lower wages drives foreign profits about as much as lower tax rates.
A proposed tax overhaul would allow a country to tax the profits of a company even though it does not have a "physical presence" there.
Corporate executives believe that consumers will increasingly prefer locally or regionally produced products.
Pressed by corporations, Treasury exempted S-corps., banks, and insurers from anti-inversion rules.
More companies would shift income abroad under proposed tax reform, although the amounts would likely be relatively modest, new research suggests.
"Corporates are seeing more significant sustained negative impacts than at the height of the euro crisis," FiREapps says.
The decision requires Belgium to recover about $762 million from at least 35 multinationals that benefited from the tax loophole.
First-quarter negative impact numbers for North American and European corporations eclipse even the height of the euro crisis, survey says.
