Where's my money? United States taxpayers make large interest payments to the top four technology firms for the $163 billion in U.S. government debt the companies own and shelter in tax-free offshore accounts. Apple, Cisco Systems, Google, and Microsoft legally hold $124 billion in U.S. treasury securities and $39 billion in U.S. government agency debt in accounts overseas, allowing them to avoid the 35 percent, maximum, corporate tax rate in the United States, according to securities and exchange commission reports.