US ‘repatriation tax’ on overseas earnings to be the biggest cost factor in fourth quarter, says investment bankGoldman Sachs has said Donald Trump’s radical US tax changes will knock about $5bn (£3.7bn) off its profits this year. The investment bank said most of the cost would come from Trump’s “repatriation tax” designed to encourage multinationals to bring back the trillions of dollars they hold overseas to avoid tax. Last week Congress approved the biggest tax overhaul in 30 years, which includes big tax cuts for companies and wealthy people. Goldman said the rest of the $5bn knock to its profits would come from the cost of implementation of the territorial tax system, and tax changes that will make it harder for companies to deduct past losses from future tax bills. The tax changes were overseen by the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, who declared the bill to be “great for hardworking workers”.

Source: The Guardian December 29, 2017 13:52 UTC