Bermuda is set to come under the gun in the US later this week when a series of television advertisements questioning the patriotism of US companies that move to offshore domiciles begin to air.

The ads, sponsored by a US group called The Bermuda Project, contrast images of US soldiers at war in Iraq with a fictional corporate executive evading taxes by moving his company to Bermuda.

"In the sands of Iraq, our soldiers risk their lives for our country," says the voiceover. "At the same time, big corporations are abandoning our country and setting up phoney tax shelters in the sands of Bermuda."

The Associated Press reported that a group of taxpayer and citizen organisations calling themselves The Bermuda Project are running the advertisements to pressure Congress to pass legislation to stop companies from moving to offshore tax havens.

In what's known as a "corporate inversion", a company sets up a shell headquarters in a tax haven such as Bermuda while keeping most operations and jobs in the United States, potentially saving millions of dollars in US taxes on income from foreign sources.

The ads will run later this week in this area and in the districts of Speaker of the Representatives J. Dennis Hastert and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The group wants Republican leaders to bring the legislation before the House for debate.

"The message is about shared sacrifice," said columnist and author Arianna Huffington, one of the founders of The Bermuda Project. "They're really cheating America, and they're cheating every American taxpayer who plays by the rules."