http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/02/investing/us-tax-companies-overseas-cash/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom

U.S. multinational companies are preparing to pay hundreds of billions of dollars in tax on profits they made overseas in the last 30 years.

New American tax rules mean firms can no longer avoid paying tax on past international profits by keeping the money outside the United States. They must pay tax whether they bring this cash back to the U.S. or not.

Goldman Sachs (GS) was the first big multinational to announce a hit to profits in 2017 from the new tax. It said on Friday that the "repatriation tax" was responsible for most of a one-off charge of $5 billion.

Tax experts expect many more big U.S. companies will announce similar one-off charges in the weeks to come.

"They should all come out with similar statements," said Ryan Dudley, head of international tax services at Friedman LLP.

The new rules require U.S. companies to pay a tax of between 8% and 15.5% on overseas earnings made since 1987 if they remain offshore. After making this one-off payment, they'll be able to bring the money back home without paying additional tax.