US Unable to Lure Trillions of Dollars Back From Offshore

While Washington is tracking and controlling large financial transactions across the world many US companies continue to use various schemes to avert taxes on their native soil.

The largest American companies hold nearly $2.1 trillion of their profits in offshore territories to cut their tax payments in the US. If they paid taxes to the US budget, in total more than $620 billion.

Experts of the research group Citizens for Tax Justice examined the financial reports of the 500 largest companies in the US. According to their analysis, 358 of them have subsidiaries in tax havens.

Nearly $1.5 trillion kept in offshore areas is owned by the 30 largest companies in the US, including Apple, Microsoft and General Electrics.

In February, US President Barack Obama proposed the implementation of a 19-percent tax on profits made by US businesses abroad. He also announced plans for a 14-percent tax on foreign assets of US companies.