United States corporations avoid an estimated $US1.45 billion ($2.06b) of tax in Australia each year by shifting their profits to low or no tax countries, research shows. 
A joint report by advocacy and union groups Tax Justice Network, Oxfam, Global Alliance for Tax Justice and Public Services International says in 2012 US multinationals shifted $500 billion to $700 billion, or roughly 25 per cent of their annual profits, mostly to countries where these profits were not taxed. This means $1 out of every $4 of profits generated by these multinationals is not aligned with real economic activity.
The report's figures are well above OECD estimates of about $US100 billion to $US240 billion being lost annually due to multinational tax avoidance schemes.
The report says Australia is one of the biggest losers in the G20 - based on which nations get disproportionately low profits - coming in 12th after the US, Germany, Canada, China, Brazil, France, Mexico, India, Britain, Italy and Spain. Most untaxed profits ended up in Netherlands, Ireland, Bermuda and Luxembourg, where there is virtually no tax, the report said. And the low-tax nations of Singapore and Switzerland accounted almost entirety for profit-shifting that can be allocated to individual jurisdictions.
The report, based on a research paper conducted by Alex Cobham and Petr Jansk\xC3&#189;, examines the location of US multinationals' economic activity versus the location of their profits based on historical data.
But it notes "important caveats". The analysis relies on public Bureau of Economic Analysis data, which is "aggregated at the national level and subject to many and varying suppressions".
The report also noted that there were key countries with no or insufficient tax data including the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, and Jersey - so these were not included in the analysis.
But based on information that was available the report found the 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits in low-tax jurisdictions abroad.
Under former treasurer Joe Hockey, Australia boosted anti-avoidance powers that can be used to hunt down multinationals.