Big U.S. companies are holding more than $2.1 trillion in profits overseas and are avoiding paying about $620 billion in U.S. taxes, according to a study released Tuesday.
The study by liberal groups Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund found that nearly three-quarters of Fortune 500 companies had at least one tax-haven subsidiary in 2014. Bermuda and the Cayman Islands were the most popular tax-haven destinations.
Companies including Apple, Nike and Pepsi were named among the “worst offenders” by the groups. Apple, for example, reportedly has booked more than $181 billion offshore, more than any other company. That has allowed the iPhone maker to avoid over $59 billion in U.S. taxes, according to the report.
The top corporate tax rate in the U.S. is 35%. In 2013, Apple CEO Tim Cook told a Senate panel that the company pays all the taxes it owes and said that bringing its overseas cash back to the U.S. would be “very expensive.” He called for a single-digit percentage if foreign earnings were to be repatriated.
The report comes a day after the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released a plan that aims to end tax shelters and require companies to pay taxes in the countries where they earn profits.
There is also movement in Congress to give corporations a one-time tax break on overseas profits to finance a sweeping infrastructure package. Corporate taxes are figuring into the presidential race as well, with Donald Trump, for example, calling for a one-time repatriation of cash held abroad.
The report said multinationals’ use of tax havens allows them to avoid about $90 billion in federal income taxes a year.
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