Controlled Foreign Corporations, 1984: An Industry Focus

1,100 U.S. multinational corporations controlled over 28,500 foreign corporations, 27,000. of which reported financial information [1,2]. These 27,000 Controlled Foreign Corporations (CFC's) generated receipts of $625 billion on $595 billion of assets. Earnings and profits of these same CFC's were $49 billion, on which almost $20 billion in taxes were paid to foreign countries. The U.S. parent corporations received $12 billion in dividends from their CFC's, nearly 70 percent of all distributions made by the CFC's. Total assets and receipts of CFC's changed only slightly from 1982 levels. Assets increased 7 percent while receipts decreased less than 4 percent. The most dramatic change from 1982 was in the profit level of these foreign corporations. Pre-tax earnings and profits of CFC's increased 32 percent from 1982 while taxes paid by t hese, same companies rose almost 40 percent. These increases resulted in a 28 percent rise in after-tax earnings and profits from 1982 to 1984. More than one-half of active CFC's were involved mainly in manufacturing or trade activities in 1984. Another 30 percent of CFC's reported their principal activity as either finance, insurance, real estate or services. These percentages remained virtually un