Tax Haven Sandwiches in the Universe of United States Multinational Entities

U.S. multinationals may locate entities strategically to reduce effective tax rates by shifting intellectual property. The canonical Double Irish and Dutch Sandwich structures have drawn OECD scrutiny for enabling large-scale tax avoidance, estimated in the hundreds of billions annually.

A

One observed ownership network

Example Network: Pfizer Inc. 2020

Pfizer's 2020 ownership graph; orange links mark edges involved in detected haven-sandwich paths.

B

Specific sandwich patterns over time

Time series comparing all haven sandwiches with specific comparison patterns
C

Sandwich families compared with non-haven families

Time series comparing sandwich families with labeled comparison families
D

Top sandwich-using companies, 2007-2022

Company Instances Industry Top family
Pfizer119PharmaceuticalsNetherlands
Merck110PharmaceuticalsIreland
General Electric105Transportation equipmentNetherlands
TTM Technologies68Electronic componentsOther haven
Hasbro63Toy and misc. manufacturingNetherlands
Top-five concentration: these firms account for 22.6% of observed haven-sandwich instances in the aggregate top-company summary.