Microsoft, Cisco might also benefit from GOP bill ‘loophole’ Law gives some firms edge in paring offshore cash tax tab Companies that stockpiled trillions of dollars offshore free of U.S. income tax may get one last break before paying up — provided their fiscal years don’t follow the calendar year…. – Continue reading
General Electric, Boston Scientific and other major Massachusetts-based companies are accused of keeping billions of dollars in offshore accounts to avoid taxation in 2016, according to a new report. In fact, the practice extends to 366 of the companies on the Fortune 500 list, according to the Massachusetts Public Interest… – Continue reading
Small businesses in the U.S. have to shoulder, on average, an extra $5,128 in taxes to make up for the revenue lost due to the abuse of offshore tax havens by multinational corporations, according to a new report by U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. As a new administration… – Continue reading
Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Visa and the rest of the corporate sponsors of the August 5–21 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro won’t be paying any taxes on the money they earn due to a tax exemption law that is set to cost Brazil hundreds of millions of dollars. The exemption, which… – Continue reading
Less than two weeks after publication of the Panama Papers, a year-long investigation by hundreds of news organizations around the world, including the Star, cast a bright light on the world of offshore tax havens, a new report from Oxfam reveals how much money the 50 largest U.S. corporations have… – Continue reading
Fortune 500 firms may be avoiding $695 billion in U.S. income taxes on $2.4 trillion held offshore. What do Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have in common? Both seek an end to the use of offshore tax havens by corporate America. Bernie Sanders’ plan ends the ability of corporations to… – Continue reading
Over the last two decades, an increasing number of companies have set up subsidiaries in offshore financial centres. So why don’t they move the entire business, and establish headquarters there too? While it seems prestigious—and tax-savvy—to be based in the Cayman Islands or Luxembourg, companies that choose to do so… – Continue reading
Over the last two decades, an increasing number of companies have chosen to register or establish subsidiaries in offshore financial centres. OFCs are characterized by low taxation, flexible regulations, and secrecy policies (see Fig 1 for the list of OFCs, ranked by Offshore Attitude Index). Many companies with subsidiaries offshore… – Continue reading
GE division makes millions in sales to health service, and is net beneficiary from UK Exchequer One of the biggest suppliers of equipment and testing services to the NHS pays barely any corporate tax in the UK, despite receiving hundreds of millions of pounds a year from medical sales to… – Continue reading
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will be sitting in the House gallery as an honored guest at the State of the Union (SOTU) address tonight. By all rights, he be should sitting before a Congressional committee instead, answering for his company’s blatant tax avoidance. Microsoft is playing a game called “Global… – Continue reading
SEATTLE — When someone in Seattle buys a copy of Office at a Microsoft Store, that cash doesn’t take the short route to the company’s area headquarters. Instead, after accounting for state taxes, the profit goes to a Microsoft sales subsidiary in Nevada. From there, much of that money begins… – Continue reading
Temporary lapses of judgment can be corrected. Permanent mistakes are harder to fix. Congress is poised to offer very costly permanent tax giveaways to powerful corporations. It is also considering renewing more modest tax credits that encourage work and support millions of low-wage workers and their children. This is an… – Continue reading
Deep in the $1.1 trillion dollar spending bill that Congress has to pass by Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown are 50 annual “tax extenders” that would provide tens of billions of dollars in tax relief for the private sector. Advocates say these measures, which have been around for… – Continue reading
Tech titans powering the economy shelter money through insane tax-avoidance havens. It’s wrong — and adding up Offshore tax havens enable not only individuals to dodge taxes—they also enable multinational corporations to do so. Often this tax avoidance is done within the letter of the law: multinational groups exploit the… – Continue reading
Antalya, Nov. 16: The Group of 20 nations today pledged to adopt sound macroeconomic policies to achieve strong, sustainable balanced growth. The near-term objective would be to support growth, create jobs and put debt as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) on a sustainable path. Data show that several… – Continue reading
Coca-Cola might owe an additional $3.3 billion in federal income taxes following an audit, says the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Following a five year audit of the company, the IRS concluded that the company’s strategy of lowering its taxable income through transfer pricing, underestimates the amount the company should’ve been… – Continue reading
The 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid U.S. taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes if they repatriated the funds, according to a study released on Tuesday. The study, by two left-leaning non-profit groups, found that… – Continue reading
CORNING — Corning Inc.’s handling of profits it earns overseas has quickly become an issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. The Fortune 500 company’s refusal to bring back to the U.S. more than $12.4 billion in overseas profits first drew criticism from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont…. – Continue reading
Budgeting battle But like much of the budgeting in Washington, D.C., it gets complicated. The Congressional Budget Office contends the Ex-Im Bank’s surpluses are the result of the accounting method the bank uses and would disappear — or require a taxpayer subsidy — if the bank used a more appropriate… – Continue reading
As Labor Day weekend approaches, a tanned and rested Congress is poised to return to Washington to hash out corporate tax changes. Much of the debate over corporate tax reform in Washington sensibly focuses on how to encourage Fortune 500 corporations to repatriate and pay U.S. taxes on the $2.1… – Continue reading
Microsoft Corp.’s stockpile of offshore profits rose to $108 billion, with a 17 percent increase over the past year as the company continues reaping profits in low-tax foreign jurisdictions. The company crossed the $100 billion mark, making it just the second U.S. corporation — after General Electric Co. — to… – Continue reading
Recent revelations that Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest corporation, is maintaining secret subsidiaries in well-known offshore tax havens are outrageous but far from surprising to small business owners. That’s because we’re used to seeing large corporations abuse the tax system in ways that hurt our businesses, communities and families. Wal-Mart’s hidden… – Continue reading
Recent revelations that Walmart, the world’s biggest corporation, is maintaining secret subsidiaries in well-known offshore tax havens are outrageous but far from surprising to small business owners. That’s because we’re used to seeing large corporations abuse the tax system in ways that hurt our businesses, communities and families. Walmart’s hidden… – Continue reading
Over the past few months, several foreign portfolio investors registered in India have received notices from the Indian tax authorities demanding payment of Minimum Alternate Tax in respect of transactions which took place over the course of prior assessment years. The Indian Government has indicated that it could raise several… – Continue reading
Over the past few months, several foreign portfolio investors registered in India have received notices from the Indian tax authorities demanding payment of Minimum Alternate Tax in respect of transactions which took place over the course of prior assessment years. The Indian Government has indicated that it could raise several… – Continue reading
Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today released a long-awaited tax reform plan that reads like a wish list for multinational corporations. The Senate Finance Committee working group’s report provides recommendations for restructuring the federal government’s international corporation tax rules. The plan is long on misguided ideas and… – Continue reading
A corporate tax reform coalition blasted President Obama’s international tax proposals on Tuesday, saying they would accelerate the sort of offshore maneuvers that Democrats want to eliminate. The Alliance for Competitive Taxation said that the White House’s proposal to impose a minimum tax on multinational corporations’ foreign earnings would only… – Continue reading
The last time the US tried repatriation – in 2004 – companies took the tax breaks and fired American workers. Better to close loopholes and invest in infrastructure If you had a spoiled 10-year-old at home who you found rifling through your wallet, what would you do? Would you spank… – Continue reading
HARTFORD — “GE! Pay your taxes!” The chants of about 45 union and political activists echoed inside the Connecticut Business and Industry Association lobby Thursday. The group, organized by the Working Families Party and major unions in the state, was delivering a letter to CBIA, the largest business lobby in… – Continue reading
NEW YORK (TheStreet) — General Electric (GE – Get Report) CEO Jeffrey Immelt, discontented with Connecticut’s plans to raise taxes by what he says will be $1.9 billion statewide, informed workers today that he will consider moving its headquarters out of state. The announcement may be a bargaining chip to… – Continue reading
It is rich to see General Electric lead the pack of companies complaining about oppressive taxes. GE notoriously paid no federal income taxes from 2008 to 2013, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. In fact, its corporate tax rate was negative 9 percent; GE got back from taxpayers… – Continue reading
It has become a $2 trillion question. Why don’t companies have to make clear exactly how much of their profits are generated offshore each year and not taxed in this country? Why must investors engage in jujitsu to estimate these figures and the risks associated with them? Companies, like individuals,… – Continue reading
If Illinois small business owners were to collectively offset state and federal revenues lost annually due to corporations using offshore tax havens, they would each have to pay $4,570 in additional taxes a year. That what-if scenario is laid out in a recent report from the Illinois Public Interest Research… – Continue reading
Stymied in their efforts to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Republican leaders in Congress continue their efforts to undermine the law by starving it of funding. Today, the Senate Finance Committee will consider legislation that would repeal some of the tax changes enacted to pay for the ACA…. – Continue reading
Ben Franklin’s famous dictum, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes” is crying out for an urgent revision. Why? Because even if still holds true for people like you and me, it has little to do with some of the country’s richest corporations. The truth is that for corporate giants… – Continue reading
When Hillary Clinton recently borrowed Elizabeth Warren’s talking points and claimed “the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top” (in our economic and political system) against regular working people, did she mention reforming the tax code — and then offer any solutions? The simple answer is… – Continue reading
Companies with Colorado locations that shelter some of their profits in an offshore tax haven will be made to pay more tax to the state — as much as $150 million a year, some estimates say — under a bill that is scheduled for its first hearing Wednesday in the… – Continue reading
Washington, D.C. – As tax day approaches, it’s important to remember that small businesses end up picking up the tab for offshore tax loopholes used by many large multinational corporations. U.S. PIRG joined Senator Bernie Sanders, Bryan McGannon of the American Sustainable Business Council, and Bob McIntyre of Citizens for… – Continue reading
Remember that $2.1 trillion of corporate tax profits parked overseas? Well, it’s still there (and growing every day) and politicians are still trying to find a way to lure or compel companies to bring it home. On Monday, President Obama sent a $478 billion transportation bill to Congress funded largely… – Continue reading
U.S. multinationals represent the healthiest segment of the economy, with higher profits and more than $1 trillion of cash on hand. This has kept corporate tax reform alive as a political issue. ON Semiconductor had a solid 2014, boosting net income by 36 percent to $196 million on revenue of… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS, March 10 (Reuters) – The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process: APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS — British bank Barclays (LSE: BARC.L – news) to acquire sole control of Spanish insurer CNP Barclays Vida y Pensiones Compania de Seguros,… – Continue reading
Under a plan baked into the White House’s budget for 2016, U.S. corporations would theoretically be forced to pay hundreds of billions in new taxes on money kept abroad. Levying fees on the $2.1 trillion in funds largely held by shell companies through an accounting trick called deferral, the move,… – Continue reading
The head of a consortium of businesses that includes multiple profitable companies that consistently pay no or abysmally low federal taxes has been tapped to testify Wednesday at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on the “Benefits of a Balanced Budget.” Former Michigan Gov. John Engler heads the Business Roundtable and… – Continue reading
Notorious tax dodger GE recently released its annual financial report and the only thing eye-raising about the company’s paltry 0.9 percent federal income tax rate is that it’s marginally higher than the 0.4 percent average rate it paid over the past decade. Released without fanfare late in the afternoon last… – Continue reading
Sen. Bernard Sanders took aim at some of America’s biggest corporations Wednesday in his crusade to raise taxes on the wealthy, accusing the companies of “legalized tax fraud” for using off-shore banks to avoid U.S. taxes. Mr. Sanders, the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, released a report that… – Continue reading
On Dec. 12, 2014, Rep. John Delaney (D-MD) proposed a new version of his “repatriation holiday” tax plan. The latest version would require multinational corporations to pay a token amount of taxes on their accumulated offshore profits and exempt those profits from any further U.S. income tax. Delaney’s new plan… – Continue reading
In May of 2014, financial firm Credit Suisse AG pled guilty to serious criminal charges. The giant bank aided and assisted approximately 22,000 wealthy U.S. taxpayers (whose names Credit Suisse AG escaped having to send to the Justice Department for law enforcement) for over a decade in filing false income… – Continue reading
All those Dutch sandwiches, double Irishes and Luxembourg, uh, lunchboxes that US multinational companies use to defer taxes and shift profits abroad are expected to be re-empowered today when the Senate votes to enact a one-year tax extension package. Included in the package is a renewal of two breaks, one… – Continue reading
While the dust is still settling from the mid-term elections and the pundits are trying to figure out what it all means, the American people have made their collective voices heard and delivered a message that they do not like the country’s direction. Exit polling data from Election Day showed… – Continue reading
Offshore accounts have made headlines recently, with 51 global jurisdictions agreeing to automatically share and exchange details of tax data. Included in this agreement is information on offshore accounts and their operational procedures. The decision brings new attention to overseas financial planning, and how top companies use offshore accounts to… – Continue reading
