Tax Administration: Comparison of the Reported Tax Liabilities of Foreign- and U.S.-Controlled Corporations, 1998-2005

United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2008-07-24 monographic deposited born digital 37 p. GA 1.13:GAO-08-957 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-957 P0b002ee180398c08 f:d08957 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-957 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-957 GAO-08-957 Comparative analysis Corporate audits Corporations Financial management Financial statements Foreign corporations Income taxes International relations Liability (legal) Losses Noncompliance Prices and pricing Program abuses Program evaluation Program management Reporting requirements Tax administration Tax credit Tax information confidentiality Tax returns Taxes Taxpayers Other Written Product A83060 Tax Administration: Comparison of the Reported Tax Liabilities of Foreign- and U.S.-Controlled Corporations, 1998-2005 Concerns about transfer pricing abuse have led researchers to compare the tax liabilities of foreign- and U.S.-controlled corporations. (Transfer prices are the prices related companies charge on intercompany transactions.) However, such comparisons are complicated because other factors may explain the differences in reported tax liabilities. In three prior reports, GAO found differences in the percentages of foreign-controlled and U.S.-controlled corporations reporting no tax liability. GAO was asked to update the previous reports by comparing: (1) the tax liabilities of foreign-controlled domestic corporations (FCDC) and U.S.-controlled corporations (USCC)-including those reporting zero tax liabilities for 1998 through 2005 (the latest available data) and (2) characteristics of FCDCs and USCCs such as age, size, and industry. GAO analyzed data from the Internal Revenue Service's Statistics of Income samples of corporate tax returns. GAO does not make any recommendations in this report. In commenting on a draft of this report, IRS provided comments on technical issues, which we incorporated into this report where appropriate. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-957/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-957.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-957/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-957.pdf GAO-08-957 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-957 Other Written Product GAO-08-957; Tax Administration: Comparison of the Reported Tax Liabilities of Foreign- and U.S.-Controlled Corporations, 1998-2005; Comparative analysis Corporate audits Corporations Financial management Financial statements Foreign corporations Income taxes International relations Liability (legal) Losses Noncompliance Prices and pricing Program abuses Program evaluation Program management Reporting requirements Tax administration Tax credit Tax information confidentiality Tax returns Taxes Taxpayers