U.S. Department of the Treasury Releases Proposed Rules for Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax to Address Significant Corporate Tax Avoidance By Companies with $1 Billion Or More In Annual Profit

Minimum tax estimated to generate more than $250 billion from the most profitable companies over next 10 years and $20 billion in 2025; 60% of corporations that pay the tax would otherwise have an effective federal tax rate of 1% or less.   

WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to increase tax fairness and address significant corporate tax avoidance by some of the largest and most profitable U.S. corporations by implementing the Inflation Reduction Act’s Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT). CAMT is a key plank of President Biden and Vice President Harris’s agenda to make the biggest corporations and wealthiest pay their fair share, while cutting taxes for working Americans and middle-class families and supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Treasury estimates that around 100 of the largest and most profitable companies will pay the CAMT annually. These corporations would have otherwise paid an average effective federal tax rate of 2.6%. An estimated 60% of CAMT payers would otherwise have paid an effective tax rate of less than 1%, including 25% of payers that would have paid an effective tax rate of zero.

That’s because some of the largest and most profitable corporations in the country use tax preferences and aggressive planning strategies to pay little to no taxes. These corporations report record profits to shareholders while often paying lower tax rates than nurses, firefighters, police officers, and teachers. Their ability to use complex strategies to avoid tax also gives them an unfair competitive advantage over small businesses, which don’t have access to the same tax planning techniques and high-paid lawyers and accountants. The CAMT helps level the playing field for small businesses by imposing a minimum tax on the profits that the largest corporations report to their shareholders.

Treasury’s NPRM would implement the statutory requirement that the biggest corporations pay a minimum 15% tax on profits reported to shareholders, with certain adjustments, to increase tax fairness and generate an estimated $250 billion over the next 10 years (2025-2034), including $20 billion in 2025.

The CAMT only applies to large corporations that average more than $1 billion in profit per year, not $1 billion in sales. In addition, if these corporations pay regular taxes that equal or exceed 15% of their adjusted profits, they would pay no additional tax. CAMT is designed as a backstop to ensure there are not years where the most profitable corporations in the world are paying minimal taxes.

“The proposed rules released by Treasury today are an important step toward realizing Congress’ efforts to address the most egregious U.S. corporate tax avoidance and ensure the largest and most profitable corporations in the country cannot pay little to no taxes,” said U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen. “The Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax will also help level the playing field for small businesses while generating hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue.”  

Crafting the rules to implement this tax has been one of the most significant projects the Treasury Department has undertaken in decades. Congress delegated a significant amount of authority to Treasury to implement the CAMT, and Treasury and the IRS are implementing the law via these proposed regulations consistent with Congress’s statutory direction and intent.

In particular, as part of the legislative process, Congress chose to retain only a small number of regular tax preferences for the purpose of the minimum tax. The proposed rules follow suit and generally do not create adjustments to the tax base other than those directed by Congress. Consistent with the four notices Treasury previously issued to give taxpayers early clarity, the NPRM addresses limited and targeted cases where adjustments are clearly needed to accomplish congressional intent. For example, it addresses situations involving bankrupt and other troubled companies so that these companies can emerge from bankruptcy and continue to operate and employ their workers.

Today’s guidance is a proposed rule. All stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed regulations by December 12, 2024 and may request to speak at the public hearing on the proposed regulations scheduled for January 16, 2025. Treasury and the IRS will carefully consider all comments that we receive on the proposed regulations and make changes based on those comments as appropriate.    

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