New York bank projects $5 billion hit from tax bill

Goldman Sachs said Friday it expects to lose $5 billion in profits due to the new GOP tax overhaul. The New York bank posted a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing how the new tax system would impact its fourth-quarter earnings. Most of its projected losses come from alterations to repatriation taxes, triggered when corporations return money from outside the United States. “The remainder includes the effects of the implementation of the territorial tax system and the remeasurement of U.S. deferred tax assets at lower enacted corporate tax rates,” the bank said. Goldman Sachs has not registered a quarterly loss in six years. The previous tax system allowed corporations to delay paying repatriation taxes until they brought back overseas profits. Under the new law, which President Donald Trump signed last week, companies holding money overseas must pay a 15.5 percent rate. Goldman Sachs generates more than 40 percent of its profits overseas. The bank had $31.2 billion in earnings reinvested outside the United States last year. Long-term, Goldman Sachs stands to benefit from the new tax system, which lowers the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. The bank plans to release its complete fourth-quarter financial results Jan. 17.