(Bloomberg) -- Corporate America brought back $664.9 billion of offshore profits back to the U.S. last year, falling short of the $4 trillion President Donald Trump said would eventually return as a result of the 2017 tax overhaul.
Companies repatriated $85.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018, the lowest sum for the year and down from $100.7 billion the previous quarter, Commerce Department data showed Wednesday. Corporations brought back $579 billion in the first three quarters of 2018, upwardly revised from $571.3 billion in the prior report.
Wednesday’s data compare with the $155.1 billion that U.S. firms repatriated in 2017, before the tax law was enacted. Companies previously had kept much of their overseas profits offshore because they only had to pay the 35 percent tax if they brought the cash back to the U.S.
The Republican tax law set a one-time 15.5 percent tax rate on cash and 8 percent on non-cash or illiquid assets, requiring companies to pay the “deemed” tax regardless of where the profits sat.
In touting the tax overhaul, Trump predicted that more than $4 trillion would return to the U.S., which he said would create jobs and spur investment. Investment banks and think tanks have estimated that U.S. corporations hold $1.5 trillion to $2.5 trillion in offshore cash.
The repatriation figures were part of a quarterly report on the current-account deficit, which widened to $134.4 billion in the October-December period from $126.6 billion. The gap is considered the broadest measure of international trade because it includes income payments and government transfers.
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