What is the Corporate Foreign Tax Credit?

The corporate foreign tax credit is a set of provisions designed by Congress to eliminate potential double taxation on the foreign-source income of U.S. corporations. Double taxation occurs when an item of income is taxed by both the United States, as the corporation's country of residence, as well as by the country where the income was generated. The current provisions allow U.S. businesses to credit their foreign taxes paid, accrued, or deemed paid against their U.S. income tax liability, subject to limitations that prevent taxpayers from using taxes paid in a country with a higher tax rate than the U.S. to offset their tax liability on U.S. income. Corporations are required to calculate this credit separately for different income categories to prevent taxpayers from combining income that is traditionally taxed at low rates, such as dividend or interest income, with income that is typically taxed at higher rates, such as active business income. The corporate foreign tax credit is reported on Form 1118, Foreign Tax Credit - Corporations.

These pages provide additional information about data produced in SOI's Corporate Foreign Tax Credit Study

Please visit Corporate Foreign Tax Credit Statistics for data tables and articles from the study.