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The Tax Policy Center's

Briefing Book

A citizen’s guide to the fascinating (though often complex) elements of the US tax system.

Tax Policy Center Briefing Book

Key Elements of the U.S. Tax System

  • Briefing Book
  • Taxes and Multinational Corporations
  • How does the current system of international taxation work?
  • Chapters
    • Introduction
      • Introduction
        • Introduction
    • Some Background
      • Federal Budget
        • What are the sources of revenue for the federal government?
        • How does the federal government spend its money?
        • What is the breakdown of revenues among federal, state, and local governments?
        • How do US taxes compare internationally?
      • Federal Budget Process
        • How does the federal budget process work?
        • What is the history of the federal budget process?
        • What is the schedule for the federal budget process?
        • What is reconciliation?
        • How is a budget resolution enforced?
        • What is PAYGO?
        • What are rescissions?
      • Federal Budget Outlook
        • How accurate are long-run budget projections?
        • What have budget trends been over the short and long term?
        • How much spending is uncontrollable?
        • What are tax extenders?
        • What options would increase federal revenues?
        • What does it mean for a government program to be off-budget?
        • How did the TCJA affect the federal budget outlook?
      • Taxes and the Economy
        • How do taxes affect the economy in the short run?
        • How do taxes affect the economy in the long run?
        • What are dynamic scoring and dynamic analysis?
        • Do tax cuts pay for themselves?
        • On what do economists agree and disagree about the effects of taxes on economic growth?
        • What are the economic effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act?
      • Economic Stimulus
        • What is the role of monetary policy in alleviating economic downturns?
        • What are automatic stabilizers and how do they work?
        • What characteristics make fiscal stimulus most effective?
      • Distribution of Tax Burdens
        • How are federal taxes distributed?
        • Are federal taxes progressive?
        • How should progressivity be measured?
        • What is the difference between marginal and average tax rates?
        • What criticisms are levied against standard distributional analysis?
        • How should distributional tables be interpreted?
        • Who bears the burden of the corporate income tax?
        • Who bears the burden of federal excise taxes?
        • How do financing methods affect the distributional analyses of tax cuts?
        • How do taxes affect income inequality?
      • Tax Expenditures
        • What are tax expenditures and how are they structured?
        • What is the tax expenditure budget?
        • Why are tax expenditures controversial?
        • What are the largest tax expenditures?
        • How did the TCJA affect tax expenditures?
      • Tax Gap and Tax Shelters
        • What is the tax gap?
        • What does the IRS do and how can it be improved?
        • What is a tax shelter?
      • Recent History of the Tax Code
        • What did the 2008–10 tax stimulus acts do?
        • What did the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 do?
        • How did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act change personal taxes?
        • How did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act change business taxes?
    • Key Elements of the U.S. Tax System
      • Individual Income Tax
        • What is the standard deduction?
        • What are itemized deductions and who claims them?
        • How did the TCJA change the standard deduction and itemized deductions?
        • What are personal exemptions?
        • How do federal income tax rates work?
        • What are tax credits and how do they differ from tax deductions?
        • How do phaseouts of tax provisions affect taxpayers?
      • Capital Gains and Dividends
        • How are capital gains taxed?
        • What is the effect of a lower tax rate for capital gains?
        • What is carried interest, and how is it taxed?
        • How might the taxation of capital gains be improved?
      • AMT
        • What is the AMT?
        • Who pays the AMT?
        • How much revenue does the AMT raise?
        • How did the TCJA change the AMT?
      • Taxes and the Family
        • What is the child tax credit?
        • What is the adoption tax credit?
        • What is the earned income tax credit?
        • Do all people eligible for the EITC participate?
        • How does the tax system subsidize child care expenses?
        • What are marriage penalties and bonuses?
        • How did the TCJA change taxes of families with children?
      • Taxes and the Poor
        • How does the federal tax system affect low-income households?
        • What is the difference between refundable and nonrefundable credits?
        • Can poor families benefit from the child tax credit?
        • Why do low-income families use tax preparers?
        • How does the earned income tax credit affect poor families?
        • What are error rates for refundable credits and what causes them?
        • How do IRS audits affect low-income families?
      • Taxes and Retirement Saving
        • What kinds of tax-favored retirement arrangements are there?
        • How large are the tax expenditures for retirement saving?
        • What are defined benefit retirement plans?
        • What are defined contribution retirement plans?
        • What types of nonemployer-sponsored retirement savings accounts are available?
        • What are Roth individual retirement accounts?
        • Who uses individual retirement accounts?
        • How does the availability of tax-favored retirement saving affect national saving?
        • What’s the difference between front-loaded and back-loaded retirement accounts?
        • What is an automatic 401(k)?
        • How might low- and middle-income households be encouraged to save?
      • Taxes and Charitable Giving
        • What is the tax treatment of charitable contributions?
        • What entities are tax-exempt?
        • Who benefits from the deduction for charitable contributions?
        • How would various proposals affect incentives for charitable giving?
        • How large are individual income tax incentives for charitable giving?
        • How did the TCJA affect incentives for charitable giving?
      • Taxes and Health Care
        • How much does the federal government spend on health care?
        • Who has health insurance coverage?
        • Which tax provisions subsidize the cost of health care?
        • How does the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance work?
        • What are premium tax credits?
        • What tax changes did the Affordable Care Act make?
        • How do health savings accounts work?
        • How do flexible spending accounts for health care expenses work?
        • What are health reimbursement arrangements and how do they work?
        • How might the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) be reformed?
      • Taxes and Homeownership
        • What are the tax benefits of homeownership?
        • Do existing tax incentives increase homeownership?
      • Taxes and Education
        • What tax incentives exist for higher education?
        • What tax incentives exist to help families pay for college?
        • What tax incentives exist to help families save for education expenses?
        • What is the tax treatment of college and university endowments?
      • Tax Complexity
        • Why are taxes so complicated?
        • What are the benefits of simpler taxes?
        • What policy reforms could simplify the tax code?
      • Wealth Transfer Taxes
        • How do the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes work?
        • Who pays the estate tax?
        • How many people pay the estate tax?
        • What is the difference between carryover basis and a step-up in basis?
        • How could we reform the estate tax?
        • What are the options for taxing wealth transfers?
        • What is an inheritance tax?
      • Payroll Taxes
        • What are the major federal payroll taxes, and how much money do they raise?
        • What is the unemployment insurance trust fund, and how is it financed?
        • What are the Social Security trust funds, and how are they financed?
        • Are the Social Security trust funds real?
        • What is the Medicare trust fund, and how is it financed?
      • Excise Taxes
        • What are the major federal excise taxes, and how much money do they raise?
        • What is the Highway Trust Fund, and how is it financed?
      • Energy and Environmental Taxes
        • What tax incentives encourage energy production from fossil fuels?
        • What tax incentives encourage alternatives to fossil fuels?
        • What is a carbon tax?
      • Business Taxes
        • How does the corporate income tax work?
        • What are pass-through businesses?
        • How are pass-through businesses taxed?
        • Is corporate income double-taxed?
      • Tax Incentives for Economic Development
        • What is the new markets tax credit, and how does it work?
        • What is the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and how does it work?
        • What are Opportunity Zones and how do they work?
      • Taxes and Multinational Corporations
        • How does the current system of international taxation work?
        • How do US corporate income tax rates and revenues compare with other countries’?
        • What are the consequences of the new US international tax system?
        • How does the tax system affect US competitiveness?
        • How would formulary apportionment work?
        • What are inversions, and how will TCJA affect them?
        • What is a territorial tax and does the United States have one now?
        • What is the TCJA repatriation tax and how does it work?
        • What is the TCJA base erosion and anti-abuse tax and how does it work?
        • What is global intangible low-taxed income and how is it taxed under the TCJA?
        • What is foreign-derived intangible income and how is it taxed under the TCJA?
    • How Could We Improve the Federal Tax System?
      • Comprehensive Tax Reform
        • What is comprehensive tax reform?
        • What are the major options for comprehensive tax reform?
      • Broad-Based Income Tax
        • What is a broad-based income tax?
        • What would and would not be taxed under a broad-based income tax?
        • What would the tax rate be under a broad-based income tax?
      • National Retail Sales Tax
        • What is a national retail sales tax?
        • What would and would not be taxed under a national retail sales tax?
        • What would the tax rate be under a national retail sales tax?
        • What is the difference between a tax-exclusive and tax-inclusive sales tax rate?
        • Who bears the burden of a national retail sales tax?
        • Would tax evasion and avoidance be a significant problem for a national retail sales tax?
        • What would be the effect of a national retail sales tax on economic growth?
        • What transition rules would be needed for a national retail sales tax?
        • Would a national retail sales tax simplify the tax code?
        • What can state and local sales taxes tell us about a national retail sales tax?
        • What is the experience of other countries with national retail sales taxes?
        • What did the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform say about the national retail sales tax?
      • Value Added Tax (VAT)
        • What is a VAT?
        • How would a VAT be collected?
        • What would and would not be taxed under a VAT?
        • What would the tax rate be under a VAT?
        • What is the difference between zero rating and exempting a good in the VAT?
        • Who would bear the burden of a VAT?
        • Is the VAT a money machine?
        • How would small businesses be treated under a VAT?
        • What is the Canadian experience with a VAT?
        • Why is the VAT administratively superior to a retail sales tax?
        • What is the history of the VAT?
        • How are different consumption taxes related?
      • Other Comprehensive Tax Reforms
        • What is the flat tax?
        • What is the X-tax?
      • Recent Comprehensive Tax Reform Proposals
        • Simple, Fair, and Pro-Growth: Proposals to Fix America’s Tax System, Report of the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, November 2005
        • The Moment of Truth: Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, December 2010
        • Debt Reduction Task Force, “Restoring America’s Future,” Bipartisan Policy Center, November 2010
        • The Tax Reform Act of 2014: Fixing Our Broken Tax Code So That It Works for American Families and Job Creators, House Ways and Means Committee
        • The Graetz Competitive Tax Plan, Updated for 2015
      • Return-Free Tax Filing
        • What is return-free filing and how would it work?
        • What are the benefits of return-free filing?
        • What are the drawbacks of return-free filing?
        • How would the tax system need to change with return-free filing?
        • Who would qualify for return-free filing?
        • Would return-free filing raise taxes?
        • What was the experience with return-free filing in California?
        • What other countries use return-free filing?
    • The State of State (and Local) Tax Policy
      • State and Local Revenues
        • What are the sources of revenue for state governments?
        • What are the sources of revenue for local governments?
      • Specific State and Local Taxes
        • How do state and local individual income taxes work?
        • How do state and local sales taxes work?
        • How do state and local property taxes work?
        • How do state and local corporate income taxes work?
        • How do state estate and inheritance taxes work?
        • How do state earned income tax credits work?
        • How do state and local severance taxes work?
        • How do state and local soda taxes work?
        • How do marijuana taxes work?
      • Fiscal Federalism and Fiscal Institutions
        • How does the deduction for state and local taxes work?
        • What are municipal bonds and how are they used?
        • What types of federal grants are made to state and local governments and how do they work?
        • What are state rainy day funds, and how do they work?
        • What are tax and expenditure limits?
        • What are state balanced budget requirements and how do they work?
    • Glossary
      • Glossary
        • Glossary

How does the current system of international taxation work?

Taxes and Multinational Corporations

1/11>
Business Taxes
Q.

How does the current system of international taxation work?

A.

All countries tax income earned by multinational corporations within their borders. The United States also imposes a minimum tax on the income US-based multinationals earn in low-tax foreign countries, with a credit for 80 percent of foreign income taxes they’ve paid. Most other countries exempt most foreign-source income of their multinationals.

TAXATION OF FOREIGN-SOURCE INCOME

Following the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the federal government imposes different rules on the different types of income US resident multinational firms earn in foreign countries (table 1).

  • Income that represents a “normal return” on physical assets—deemed to be 10 percent per year on the depreciated value of those assets—is exempt from US corporate income tax.
  • Income above a 10 percent return—called Global Intangible Low Tax Income (or GILTI)—is taxed annually as earned at half the US corporate rate of 21 percent on domestic income, with a credit for 80 percent of foreign income taxes paid. Because half the US corporate rate is 10.5 percent, the 80 percent credit eliminates the GILTI tax for US corporations except for any income foreign countries tax at less than 13.125 percent. After 2025, the GILTI tax rate increases to 62.5 percent of the US corporate rate, or 13.125 percent, which makes US corporations subject to GILTI tax only on income foreign countries tax at less than 16.406 percent.
  • Income from passive assets, such as bonds or certain categories of easily shiftable assets, is taxable under subpart F of the Internal Revenue Code at the full 21 percent corporate rate, with a credit for 100 percent of foreign income taxes on those categories of income.

US companies can claim credits for taxes paid to foreign governments on GILTI and subpart F income only up to their US tax liability on those sources of income. Firms may, however, pool their credits within separate income categories. Excess foreign credits on GILTI earned in high-tax countries, therefore, can be used to offset US taxes on GILTI from low-tax countries. US companies may not claim credits for foreign taxes on the 10 percent return exempt from US tax to offset US taxes on GILTI or subpart F income.

Suppose, for example, a US-based multinational firm invests $1,000 in buildings and machinery for its Irish subsidiary and earns a profit of $250 in Ireland, which has a 12.5 percent tax rate. It also holds $1,000 in an Irish bank, on which it earns interest of $50.

  • The company pays the Irish government $31.25 of tax on the $250 of profits earned in Ireland plus another $6.25 on the $50 of interest from the Irish bank. Overall, it pays $37.50 of Irish tax on income of $300.
  • The company owes no tax to the United States on the first $100 of Irish profits (10 percent of invested capital). It owes a tax before credits of $15.75 on the $150 of GILTI ($250 of profit less the $100 exempt amount). It owes $10.50 (21 percent of $50) on the interest from the Irish bank. So, overall its US tax before credits is $26.25.
  • The company can claim a foreign tax credit of $21.25 from its Irish investments. This consists of $15 from the Irish tax on GILTI income (80 percent of .125 × $150) and the full $6.25 of Irish tax on interest income.
  • So, overall, the US company pays $37.50 of tax to Ireland and an additional $5.00 to the United States ($26.25 less the $21.25 foreign tax credit) for a total tax liability of $42.50. This can be broken down into
    • $12.50 of Irish tax on the first $100 of profits from the investment;
    • $18.75 of Irish tax plus $0.75 of net US tax on the $150 of GILTI; and
    • $6.25 of Irish tax plus $4.25 of US tax on the $50 of interest income.

 

TCJA also introduced a special tax rate for Foreign Derived Intangible Income (FDII)—the profit a firm receives from US-based intangible assets used to generate export income for US firms. An example is the income US pharmaceutical companies receive from foreign sales attributable to patents they hold in the United States. The maximum rate on FDII is 13.125 percent, rising to 16.406 percent after 2025. FDII aims to encourage US multinationals to report their intangible profits to the United States instead of to low-tax foreign countries.

Most countries, including all other countries in the G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom), use a territorial system that exempts most so-called “active” foreign income from taxation. Still others have hybrid systems that, for example, exempt foreign income only if the foreign country’s tax system is similar to that in the home country. In general, an exemption system provides a stronger incentive than the current US tax system to earn income in low-tax countries because foreign-source income from low-tax countries incurs no minimum tax.

Many countries also have provisions, known as “patent boxes,” that allow special rates to the return on patents their resident multinationals hold in domestic affiliates.

Most other countries, however, also have rules similar to the US subpart F rules that limit their resident corporations’ ability to shift profits to low-income countries by taxing foreign “passive” income on an accrual basis. In that sense, even countries with a formal territorial system do not exempt all foreign-source income from domestic tax.

INBOUND INVESTMENT

Countries, including the United States, generally tax the income foreign-based multinationals earn within their borders at the same rate as the income domestic-resident companies earn. Companies, however, have employed various techniques to shift reported profits from high-tax countries in which they invest to low-tax countries with very little real economic activity.

The US subpart F rules, and similar rules in other countries, limit many forms of profit shifting by domestic-resident companies but do not apply to foreign-resident companies. Countries use other rules to limit income shifting. For example, many countries have “thin-capitalization” rules, which limit companies’ ability to deduct interest payments to related parties in low-tax countries in order to reduce reported profits from domestic investments.

TCJA enacted a new minimum tax, the Base Erosion Alternative Tax (BEAT) to limit firms’ ability to strip profits from the United States. BEAT imposes a 10.5 percent alternative minimum tax on certain payments, including interest payments, to related parties that would otherwise be deductible as business costs.

Updated May 2020
Further Reading

Altshuler, Rosanne, Stephen Shay, and Eric Toder. 2015. “Lessons the United States Can Learn from Other Countries’ Territorial Systems for Taxing Income of Multinational Corporations.” Washington, DC: Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Clausing, Kimberly A. 2020. "Profit Shifting Before and After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act." January 20, 2020.

Dharmapala, Dhammika. 2018. “The Consequences of the TCJA’s International Provisions: Lessons from Existing Research.” Prepared for National Tax Association, 48th Annual Spring Symposium Program, Washington, DC, May 1.

Gravelle, Jane G. and Donald J. Marples. 2020. “Issues in International Corporate Taxation: The 2017 Revision (P.L. 115-97).” CRS Report R45186. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. Updated February 20, 2020.

Joint Committee on Taxation. 2015. “Issues in Taxation of Cross-Border Income.” JCX-51-15. Washington, DC: Joint Committee on Taxation.

Kleinbard, Edward D. 2011. “The Lessons of Stateless Income.” Tax Law Review 65 (1): 99–172.

Shaviro, Daniel N. 2018. “The New Non-Territorial U.S. International Tax System.” Tax Notes. July 2.

Toder, Eric. 2017. “Territorial Taxation: Choosing among Imperfect Options.” AEI Economic Perspectives. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute.

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