New York Times Quotes Elizabeth Stevens on Offshore Tax Law

A year ago, the Trump administration withdrew from a global effort to curb offshore tax-dodging by multinational companies. That decision has been a huge gift to corporate America, enabling companies to avoid at least $40 billion in income taxes since the beginning of 2025.

A New York Times review of securities filings from nearly 500 companies showed that they avoided taxes by attributing hundreds of billions of dollars in earnings to low- or no-tax foreign locales like Cyprus, Bermuda, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Often, corporations funneled the profits through subsidiaries in places where they had no employees, offices or customers.

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But the provision contained an escape hatch: It permitted companies to blend the profits and taxes reported in places like Germany, France or Japan with earnings reported in tax havens like Grand Cayman. That, in turn, helps many companies avoid the new offshore tax.

The 2017 law “doesn’t solve the profit-shifting problem,” said Elizabeth Stevens, a lawyer at Caplin & Drysdale.

For the full article, please visit The New York Times’ website.