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Offshore Tax Havens

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Offshore Tax Havens
Josh Keeder
Tax Accounting 2
Professor Jackson

Offshore Tax Havens

Introduction: Offshore tax havens are a tax-avoiding loophole that sends money over seas where there is no or little tax. This has become the go to move of some of the top corporations of the United States as these companies are costing the U.S over one hundred fifty billion dollars of revenue each year. (1) Last year alone it was concluded that the top fifteen multinational companies held $776 billion dollars offshore in various subsidiaries that totaled around 859. With that in mind, the top one hundred companies held about 1.7 trillion dollars offshore. (2) Corporate taxes in the U.S. are taxed at a rate of thirty five percent, where on average the offshore tax havens are taxed at a mere 6.9 percent. (2) These offshore accounts can be seen as “nominal, hyper-portable, multi-jurisdictional, often quite temporary locations of networks of legal and quasi legal entities and arrangements that manage and control private wealth”. (3) Tax havens have become a major issue in the U.S. as the top corporations of the country show no sign of slowing in their games of tax avoidance schemes.

Applicable Issue:

Even though the corporate tax code makes offshore tax havens legal in the U.S. by allowing them to convey their profits overseas, they are exploiting these subsidiaries making the average taxpayer and also small business owners take on the tremendous tax burden. The practice of shifting these corporations income overseas has cost the U.S. Treasury an estimated ninety million dollars annually. (2) With such a great debt left by these havens and the avoidance of taxable income, everyday taxpayers are being jammed with a higher tax rate. Along with higher taxes, government programs are being forced to shut down causing a numerous loss in jobs. Another correlation to these havens would be the federal debt that continues to rise on a daily basis with no help from the multinational corporations. An



Citations: 1. Povich, Elaine. "Hunting Lost Revenue in Offshore Tax Havens." Stateline The Daily News of Service. The PEW, 10 Mar. 2014. Web. . <http://www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline/headlines/hunting-lost-revenue-in-offshore-tax-havens-85899541744> 2. Guglielmo, Connie. "Apple, Google Among Top U.S. Companies Parking Cash Offshore To Reduce Taxes, Study Says." Forbes. Forbes, 1 Aug. 2013. Web. . <Apple, Google Among Top U.S. Companies Parking Cash Offshore To Reduce Taxes, Study Says>. 3. Matthews, Christopher . "The Real Problem With Offshore Tax Havens." Time-Taxes. Time, 26 July 2012. Web. . <http://business.time.com/2012/07/26/the-real-problem-with-offshore-tax-havens/>. 4. "26 U.S. Code § 11 - Tax imposed." Legal Information Institute. Cornell University Law School, n.d. Web. . <http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/11>. 5. "Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act." IRS. IRS, n.d. Web. . <http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Corporations/Foreign-Account-Tax-Compliance-Act-FATCA> 6. Abusive Offshore Tax Avoidance Schemes - Talking Points." IRS. IRS, n.d. Web. . <http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Abusive-Offshore-Tax-Avoidance-Schemes-Talking-Points>. 7. Brinker, Thomas M. "Tax Haven Versus Safe Haven: Where Is The U.S. Taxpayer/Investor To Go?." Journal Of Financial Service Professionals 67.3 (2013): 5-6. Business Source Complete. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. 8. Vélez, Eva Lloréns. "Unreported Income In Offshore Tax Havens Could Top $32 Trillion Worldwide." Caribbean Business 40.30 (2012): 22. Business Source Complete. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. 9. Manea, Adrian Constantin. "The Tax Havens Between Measures Of Economic Stimulation And Measures Against Tax Evasion." Bulletin Of The Transilvania University Of Brasov. Series VII: Social Sciences. Law 52 (2010): 223-228. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

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