In this NY Times article entitled “Tax Deductions Blunt Impact of Large Corporate Settlements, Report Says” Liz Moyer points out that:
“Corporations continue to use big civil legal settlements with federal regulators as a way to deduct billions of dollars from their American tax bills, largely because the regulators fail to forbid the practice in the terms of the settlements.”
For example the $20.8 billion dollar settlement from the BP oil spill had $15.3 billion identified as tax deductible. Her article takes a look at the 10 biggest settlements by five federal regulators since 2010 and found that of $80 billion in settlements, $48 billion was tax deductible resulting in $17 billion in savings to the firms picked up by U.S. taxpayers. She also points out this is more than all of the estate and gift taxes combined.
I found this to be an interesting read and thought you may too.