Tax Law Changes Already Showing Up in Corporate Earnings

Investing.com - The massive tax cut package signed into law last year is already showing up in the earnings of major U.S. companies. Citigroup (NYSE:C) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) are among the global giants to take large one-time tax charges in the fourth quarter because of a change in how overseas profits are taxed.Under the law, that money will be taxed at a one-time, 15.5 percent rate, lower than in the past.Companies in the S&P 500 are expected to take tax charges of $235 billion dollars on the $2.8 trillion they have sitting overseas, according to Zion Research.Pharmaceutical and tech firms account for more than two-thirds of the money.. And a third of it belongs to just five companies--Apple, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), Cisco and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), according to Zion.A tax change in 2004 also allowed companies a one-time opportunity to bring back overseas profits, The tax rate then was 5.25% and more than $300 billion in profits was repatriated.