International Taxation

This report provides recent data on transfer pricing issues and on tax compliance by foreign- and U.S.-controlled corporations. GAO discusses (1) the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) recent experience in dealing with transfer pricing issues through its examinations, appeals, and litigation functions and (2) IRS' use of available regulatory and procedural tools. GAO also used 1990 and 1991 tax data to update its analysis of how many U.S.-controlled corporations and foreign-controlled corporations did not pay U.S. income taxes.

GAO found that: (1) recent IRS experiences with transfer pricing cases have been mixed; (2) although there were as many regulatory violations in 1993 and 1994 as in previous years, the value of the 1994 adjustments increased $1.3 billion over 1993 adjustments; (3) a large number of the 1993 and 1994 cases involved pricing methods other than the three methods specifically described in earlier IRS regulations; (4) the outcomes of IRS appeals and legal processes for the 2 years were similar to those in 1987 and 1988, with a sustention rate of about 30 percent of the proposed adjustments' value; (5) IRS has used certain procedural tools, such as simultaneous examinations and arbitration, as effective deterrents to abusive transfer pricing practices; (6) IRS expects to increase its use of advanced pricing agreements; (7) the success of the new transfer pricing regulations remains to be seen; (8) about 75 percent of FCC and 60 percent of USCC paid no U.S. income tax between 1987 and 1991; (9) the corporations that paid U.S. taxes in 1991 held 80 percent of FCC and USCC assets and generated 81 percent of their receipts; (10) the largest nontaxpaying corporations accounted for most FCC and USCC assets and receipts; and (11) factors other than transfer pricing abuse may contribute to the differences in tax amounts paid by FCC and USCC.