WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fifteen U.S. corporations including online retailer Amazon.com Inc
A report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, or ITEP, said data showed how profitable Fortune 500 companies have routinely lowered their tax bills long before the Republican tax overhaul signed into law by President Donald Trump in December.
The 15 corporations had profits of $24.5 billion in 2017 but managed to obtain nearly $1.4 billion in rebates from the U.S. Treasury for a combined tax rate of minus 5.6 percent, according to the ITEP report, which examined corporate income tax disclosures.
The nonpartisan group said the new U.S. tax regime, which slashed the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent beginning in January, will likely allow corporations avoid even more tax.
ITEP said while “disclosures made by these companies are too vague to allow a complete diagnosis of how they are avoiding income taxes” they used a variety of tax breaks to cut their tax bills.
Amazon
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy obtained a $247 million rebate on $4.2 billion in U.S. profits by using accelerated depreciation on capital investments and renewable energy production tax credits to lower its federal tax rate to a minus 5.9 percent, the report said.
Officials at Amazon.com were not immediately available for comment.
A spokesman for Duke Energy called the report “deeply flawed and misleading.”
The bonus depreciation tax policy was introduced during the recession “to encourage companies to invest and create jobs to spur economic growth,” spokesman Neil Nissan said in a statement.
Last year’s tax legislation dramatically expanded the depreciation tax break used by Fortune 500 corporations, the group said.
Prudential Financial
Officials at Prudential also were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)