Apple, IBM and Microsoft Lead U.S. Tax-Avoiding Spree

Apple Inc., IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have been picked out as some of the main culprits of stockpiling profits abroad in order to avoid huge tax bills, according to Bloomberg.

Last year, the largest U.S. firms collectively added an extra $206 billion to their offshore profit stockpiles based in low-tax countries.

Together the firms racked up a total of $1.95 trillion in profits stored outside of the U.S. — up 11.8 percent from the year before.

Of that increase, 18.2 percent — $37.5 billion — came from Apple, IBM and Microsoft collectively.

Bloomberg came to the figures after studying 307 companies’ filings to the U.S. Securities and ExchangeCommission. It claimed that in the past three years, Microsoft’s profits held offshore have more than doubled, while Apple’s have quadrupled over the same period.

It is not the first time Apple and Microsoft have come under fire for their tax practices. Back in 2012, the pair — along with Hewlett-Packard Co. and Google Inc. — were singled out by a U.S. Senate committee for relying on various “loopholes and gimmicks” year after year to avoid paying taxes.

Credit: Channel Nomics