AbbVie, a global leader biopharmaceutical company, was established in 2013, and its mission is to use science and innovation to discover and develop treatments that have the power to restore health and extend and improve people's lives. It researches, develops, manufactures and markets innovative medicines and therapies for chronic medical conditions and other challenging and complex diseases. AbbVie's purpose-driven culture and commitment to collaboration have resulted in several long-term, successful partnerships with physicians, scientists, and other leaders in the healthcare community. In 2020, AbbVie ranked 32nd on the Fortune 500, an annual ranking of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue.

AbbVie, like many other large multinational pharmaceutical companies, actively seeks to reduce its tax burden through tax avoidance strategies. For example, AbbVie has been accused of engaging in an aggressive form of tax avoidance known as "earnings stripping," in which deductions are made from a company's earnings to reduce its effective tax rate and utilize complex financial structures to shift profits to jurisdictions with lower taxes. In addition, AbbVie has been accused of artificially inflating prices on its products in certain countries to reduce tax liabilities. All these accusations are denied, and it has made efforts to improve its global tax policies and practices, including developing a comprehensive Tax Strategy, implementing a Transfer Pricing Policy, and enhancing its governance and reporting procedures.

Business ethics are moral principles that guide a company's conduct, such as its operations and interaction with the government, stakeholders, shareholders, employees, and customers. The focus of every company is to operate by applicable laws, maintaining the company's reputation among peers, customers, and the organization as a whole. Morality can not be tested by science; hence there is no way of testing if an action is morally right or wrong. Instead, we focus on the rationale behind moral right or wrong, such as culture, religion, feelings, interests, rationality, fairness, character, and relationships. The culture of AbbVie plays a key role in what is morally permissible or impermissible as actions can be legally right, for example, the use of tax avoidance strategies or loopholes to reduce the company's tax bill and generate more profit for the shareholders and investors but does not necessarily mean they are morally right. As the CEO of Abbvie, from top to bottom, the company's culture, beliefs, and social responsibility plays an important role in using aggressive tax strategies to reduce taxes and generate profit.

Companies often use tax optimization and tax avoidance strategies to incorporate in low-tax countries to take advantage of a low-tax jurisdiction and reduce their tax liabilities. To qualify for this tax strategy, a company typically needs to meet certain criteria, such as having a physical presence in the jurisdiction or having a significant portion of its income generated from sales within the jurisdiction. The proposed international tax agreement to let countries tax large companies in part based on where their consumers are located if approved, will allow the U.S. to get more taxes from American pharmaceutical companies and reduces the aggressive use of tax avoidance.