IRS Issues Summer
Statistics of Income Bulletin

WASHINGTON - Pre-tax profits reported on the 4.3 million U.S. corporation income tax returns for 1994 increased to $577.3 billion, 15.9 percent more than for 1993, according to the Summer 1997 issue of the Internal Revenue Service quarterly publication, the Statistics of Income Bulletin. The 7,043 returns of corporations with assets of $250 million or more accounted for nearly 77 percent of the total. Reflecting the increase in profits, total income tax after credits (which includes the "alternative minimum tax") increased from $119.9 billion to $135.5 billion. However, alternative minimum tax continued to decline, from $4.9 billion for 1993 to $4.5 billion.

For 1994, there were 54,620 foreign-controlled domestic corporations (FCDC's). Their pre-tax profits nearly doubled, compared to 1993, from $11.2 billion to $21.9 billion, while their U.S. income tax liability grew from $8.2 billion to $10.1 billion. In terms of total receipts, corporations controlled by a Japanese entity led with 29 percent, followed by those controlled by a entity in the United Kingdom, 14 percent. About three-quarters of all FCDC's were manufacturers or wholesalers.

The 3,073 "Foreign Sales Corporations" (FSC's) in existence in 1992 were designed to promote the export of products and services of their shareholders (mostly U.S. parent corporations), by exempting part of their foreign trade income from U.S. taxation. FSC's generated $15.6 billion in "total income," of which $9.6 billion was tax-exempt. They reported $0.8 billion in U.S. income tax and distributed $5.3 billion to their parent shareholders.

Profits reported by the Nation's 16.4 million nonfarm sole proprietorships grew to $169.3 billion for 1995, but this was only 1.5 percent more than for 1994, when profits were 6.6 percent higher than the year before.

The Statistics of Income Bulletin is available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. The annual subscription rate is $33 ($41.25 foreign); single issues cost $15 ($18.75 foreign). For other Statistics of Income (SOI) data, write the Director, Statistics of Income Division CP:R:S:S:P, Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 2608, Washington, DC 20013-2608; dial the SOI electronic bulletin board at (202) 874-9574; check the World Wide Web at http://www.irs.gov; or telephone the SOI statistical information services office at (202) 874-0410 (or, by e-mail, soi.sis@wgate.irs.gov; by FAX, (202) 874-0964).

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