GE Filed 57,000-Page Tax Return

The Weekly Standard, GE Filed 57,000-Page Tax Return, Paid No Taxes on $14 Billion in Profits:

General Electric, one of the largest corporations in America, filed a whopping 57,000-page federal tax return earlier this year but didn't pay taxes on $14 billion in profits. The return, which was filed electronically, would have been 19 feet high if printed out and stacked.

The fact that GE paid no taxes in 2010 was widely reported earlier this year, but the size of its tax return first came to light when House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan (R, Wisc.) made the case for corporate tax reform at a recent townhall meeting.

GE's response:

Here are the facts around our taxes. GE paid almost $2.7 billion of income taxes to governments around the world during 2010 including payment of substantial income taxes to the US government for prior years. GE paid income taxes for our 2010 return. GE also paid more than $1 billion in other federal, state and local taxes in the U.S. in 2010. The main reason why GE’s tax rate was so low in 2010 was that we lost billions of dollars in GE Capital as a result of the global financial crisis.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• NY Times:  GE: Tax Imagination at Work (Mar. 25, 2011)
• Jon Stewart on G.E.'s 0% Tax Rate (Mar. 29, 2011)
• GE Responds to NY Times Criticism of its Tax Planning (Mar. 31, 2011)
• CJR:  GE Flubs Tax Pushback Against the New York Times (Apr. 1, 2011)
• NY Times Lies About GE's Zero Income Tax Bill (Apr. 4, 2011)
• The Onion's Take on GE's Aggressive Tax Planning (Apr. 6, 2011)
• Johnston:  NY Times Pays 6x Higher Tax Rate Than GE (Apr. 11, 2011)
• GE Gets Punk'd: AP, USA Today Fall for GE's Claimed Return of $3.2b Tax Refund (Apr. 13, 2011)
• GE Responds to David Cay Johnston (May 2, 2011)
• Johnston:  America is GE's Tax Haven (Aug. 24, 2011)
• TNR:  Elizabeth Warren v. GE on Taxes (Sept. 15, 2011)