Taxes paid by profitable companies in the United States are often less than half the statutory 35% tax rate, according to a new study released on Monday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The report, which was prepared for Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) and Sen. Tom Coburn, (R., Okla.), found that profitable companies with at least $10 million in revenue, had an average effective federal tax rate of just 13% on their worldwide income in 2010. The report comes as Sen. Levin, chairman of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has proposed closing some of the tax loopholes he says let companies avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes.

Corporations paid much less than the statutory 35% tax rate to the Internal Revenue Service in 2010, according to the Government Accountability Office. Associated Press

Here are five numbers from the report that explain how much tax U.S. companies are actually paying compared to the profits they earn:

17.4%: Including state and local taxes, this was the average effective tax rate for profitable companies with at least $10 million in revenues in 2010. If unprofitable companies are included the average worldwide effective tax rate can rise as high as 22.7%.

$242 billion: This is the amount of corporate income taxes the GAO says was paid in 2012, citing Office of Management and Budget estimates. That figure compares to $845 billion collected in social insurance taxes and $1.1 trillion collected in individual income taxes. Since the early 1980s, corporate income tax has accounted for about 6% to 15% of federal revenue.

$1.1 trillion: In 2010, profitable companies reported an aggregate $1.4 trillion in pre-tax profits, while unprofitable companies reported losses of $315 billion, resulting in a net pre-tax income of $1.1 trillion for all corporations.


16.9%: The effective tax rate for profitable companies has declined in the past few years and companies appear to be paying less tax globally. Actual taxes paid on corporate worldwide income, including federal, state local and foreign tax expenses and withholding, declined to 16.9% in 2010 from 20.8% in 2008.

$762 billion: Companies sometimes report different figures to the Internal Revenue Service than they do to investors. When accounting for transactions between corporate units on their tax returns, companies made adjustments in their favor to the tune of $762 billion compared to their 2010 financial statements, and negative adjustments of just $20 billion.