Obama's proposal may wipe out lure of tax savings here for American MNCs
By CONRAD TAN
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(SINGAPORE) The sweeping changes to US tax rules proposed by President Barack Obama on Monday could deal a painful blow to Singapore, Hong Kong, Ireland and other locations favoured by US multinational firms for their overseas operations, senior partners at tax firms here said.
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| Throwing down the gauntlet: Mr Obama with Treasury Secretary Geithner in Washington on Monday. The Obama administration believes loopholes in US tax laws give US firms with overseas operations an unfair advantage over firms that do business only within the country |
While the full details are still unknown, the proposals could have 'a great impact' on Singapore, a major centre for the regional headquarters and holding companies of foreign firms in Asia, said Owi Kek Hean, head of KPMG tax services here.
The lure of tax incentives that Singapore offers to US firms to set up their regional HQs here would be diminished, because any savings from the incentives here could be taxed further in the United States, he said.
'It makes our tax incentives less attractive. It also pushes US corporations to think long and hard about investing outside the US, because in the end there is no effective tax savings.'
At present, the foreign earnings of US firms are only taxed in the US when the profits are moved back into the country. So those companies that have large overseas operations often reinvest their foreign earnings abroad, deferring the US tax liability indefinitely.
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Major beneficiaries include General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and American International Group, which have deferred billions of dollars in tax on overseas earnings in recent years, Bloomberg reported.
The Obama administration believes that such tax deferrals and various loopholes in US tax laws give US firms with overseas operations an unfair advantage over companies that do business only within the country.
The US Treasury said that in 2004, the most recent year for which it has the data, US multinational firms paid just US$16 billion of tax at home, despite earning some US$700 billion overseas - an effective tax rate of about 2.3 per cent, compared to the top tax rate of 35 per cent for US firms.
As part of a broader, far-reaching reform of the tax system, the government wants to remove tax advantages for US firms to invest overseas. In particular, it would require 'certain foreign subsidiaries' to be considered as separate companies for US tax purposes, rather than allowing firms to disregard them when declaring their US tax liabilities.
That could be 'potentially most problematic' for US multinational firms, said Andy Baik, international tax services partner at Ernst & Young. 'A lot of US MNCs have done planning outside of the US to reinvest foreign earnings offshore without bringing it back to the US.'
Tax analysts at Deloitte in the US estimate that the changes could raise the overall tax burden on US firms by 8 per cent, on average, Reuters reported.
Critics of the proposals say that the changes will put US companies at a severe disadvantage to multinational firms from other countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands that are not taxed at home on foreign earnings.
When contacted, Laura Deal, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, said that it was still studying the proposals and their implications for US businesses here, but declined to comment further.
Its parent, the US Chamber of Commerce, issued a statement in Washington on Monday opposing the changes, warning that they would restrict the ability of US businesses overseas to compete with firms from other countries that do not impose taxes on companies' foreign earnings.
'Deferral has been mischaracterised as a tax break but is actually a vital mechanism providing relief for American businesses from double taxation,' its chief economist Marty Regalia said. 'Since other countries don't subject their companies to double taxation, US companies need deferral to stay competitive in the global marketplace.'
Much depends on whether the proposals are eventually enacted as laws, and in what form.
None of the planned measures are expected to take effect until 2011, even if they are passed by US lawmakers.
Still, there could be trouble ahead for low-tax jurisdictions such as Singapore and Hong Kong. Both are on a list of 34 'offshore secrecy jurisdictions' considered 'probable locations for US tax evasion' published in a US legislative proposal, the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, on March 2.
A major driving force behind the US government's moves to revamp its tax system is to curb what it sees as abuse by firms that use offshore tax havens to avoid paying US taxes, Mr Baik said.
If the foreign subsidiaries targeted by the proposed tax changes are linked to the list, 'Singapore would be very much impacted, because some of the structures using Singapore as a regional hub or headquarters could be impacted by that specific proposal', he added.
But Mr Owi said it was possible that a 'watered-down' version of the proposals would eventually be legislated.
And he stressed that even if the tax incentives vanish, 'Singapore should continue to be attractive for US corporations if we are able to continue with our great infrastructure support, low business costs and the strong legal framework that we have'.
More details of the tax changes are expected to be revealed tomorrow, Bloomberg reported.
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