U.S. Corporations Parking More Cash Abroad To Avoid Tax

U.S.-based companies are increasingly parking their earnings in offshore accounts, with some of the largest companies adding $206 billion to their accounts in low-tax countries to avoid forking over taxes to the IRS.

Multinational companies have $1.95 trillion outside the United States, according to a Bloomberg analysis of 307 corporations, up 11.8 percent from last year. Microsoft, Apple and IBM were among the biggest offenders, adding $37.5 billion to cash piles held outside the United States.

Taking advantage of loopholes in the tax code allows companies to make it look as though they earned profits offshore, preventing the federal government—which has run a deficit for over a decade—from taking a share of the money pot. Estimates on the amount of annual revenue the U.S. loses range from $30 billion to $90 billion.

[Bloomberg]