Final answer:
Night, Inc. can earn up to $171,429 in foreign sales income without generating any excess foreign tax credits for the current year, calculated by setting the U.S. tax liability at 21% equal to the foreign income taxes ($36,000) already paid.
Step-by-step explanation:
We are tasked with determining the amount of foreign sales income (FSI) Night, Inc. can earn without generating any excess foreign tax credits (FTCs) for the current year under U.S. taxation rules. To do this, we need to consider both the foreign taxes paid and the U.S. tax rate.
First, we calculate the U.S. tax liability on the FSI, which is the FSI multiplied by the U.S. tax rate. Since Night, Inc. already paid taxes on its offshore manufacturing activities at a 50% rate, we want to find the FSI amount where the U.S. tax liability would equal the foreign taxes already paid.
To avoid excess FTCs, the U.S. tax liability must be at least equal to the foreign taxes paid. Thus, we set the U.S. tax liability at 21% equal to the $36,000 of foreign income taxes paid:
FSI x U.S. tax rate = Foreign income taxes
FSI x 0.21 = $36,000
Solving for FSI gives us:
FSI = $36,000 / 0.21
FSI = $171,429 (rounded to the nearest dollar)
Therefore, Night, Inc. can earn up to $171,429 in foreign sales income without incurring any excess FTCs for the current year.