In the New York Times, Jesse Drucker and Karen Weise have a piece, “Microsoft Disclosure Provides Rare Glimpse of Tax Haven Tactics.” From the piece:

A compliance report released by Microsoft this week provided a rare look into how tech giants shift profits out of the countries where they have many employees and significant sales and into low-tax havens that help them cut their tax bills by billions of dollars.

Microsoft was most likely the first major U.S. technology company to make a so-called country by country report of its finances to comply with a new European Union directive. Like other big companies, Microsoft uses transactions between subsidiaries to shift profits around to reduce its tax bill. The report revealed a consistent pattern: high returns in low-tax jurisdictions and slim margins in higher-tax ones.

For the full report described in the piece, click here.