Why Did US Authorities Raid Caterpillar’s Facilities?

March 07, 2017

Linda Swartz comments in TP Week on a raid on three of Caterpillar’s facilities last week by U.S. federal agents.

An exceprt from "Why did US authorities raid Caterpillar’s facilities?," March 7, 2017: 

A raid on three of Caterpillar’s facilities last week, including its headquarters, is linked to investigations into its subsidiaries in Switzerland, where the ompany allegedly shifted billions of dollars in profits to avoid paying US taxes.

Advisers came to Caterpillar’s defence, seeking to lay the blame at the door of the US tax system. Linda Swartz, chair of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft’s tax department, said: “As long as the US tax system is at odds with the territorial systems employed by other, corporate-friendly jurisdictions, good tax planning will involve opportunities to create and retain profits offshore.”

Swartz said that a US tax reform would make it less of an imperative to move outside the US tax net, but added that it will be difficult to predict whether that goal will be achieved until the White House releases a detailed tax plan.