Microsoft's Foreign Earnings: Tax Strategy

ABSTRACT

The high corporate tax rate and the complexity of the U.S. tax code provide U.S. multinationals with the incentives and opportunities to shift income to foreign low-tax jurisdictions. In theory, U.S. corporations are taxed at the statutory rate of 35 percent on their worldwide income, but income earned by an active Controlled Foreign Corporation (CFC) is usually not taxed until it is repatriated to the parent company in the U.S. As a result, trillions of dollars in cash ...more