
U.S. companies have sent home over half a trillion dollars of cash they held overseas in 2018 to take advantage of tax changes. The repatriation bonanza followed new regulations that allowed the U.S. government to tax profits accumulated overseas, regardless of where the money was held. Prior rules allowed companies to “defer” U.S. tax on worldwide profits unless they repatriated the money.
The change offered a powerful incentive to bring home some of the trillions U.S. firms were believed to hold in jurisdictions ranging from Ireland to Switzerland, either in cash or in securities such as U.S. Treasuries.
The current account data shows repatriation in all sectors. Looking at just non-financial companies, JPMorgan calculates $60 billion was repatriated in the third quarter, $225 billion in the first quarter and $115 billion in the second quarter.
Repatriation flows are also evident from data released by the U.S. Treasury International Capital, or TIC. That shows Treasury bond holdings falling in locations that are well known as low-tax jurisdictions or overseas bases of U.S. companies or that host significant fund management or custody business.
Ireland, which hosts the European hubs of U.S. technology and pharmaceutical companies such as Apple and Pfizer, saw Treasury holdings drop by $40 billion between end-2017 and end-October 2018, TIC data released on Dec. 17 shows. The holdings fell by over a tenth in January-October to $287.6 billion.
Repatriation is likely to affect markets, because the flows helped fund this year’s record $1 trillion in U.S. share buybacks. A Jefferies analysis of a Federal Reserve paper looking at the use of repatriated cash concluded it had significantly enhanced buybacks, effectively placing a floor under stock markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-us-repatriation-companies/u-s-companies-repatriate-over-half-a-trillion-dollars-in-2018-idUSKCN1OU0ME