Technology giants led by Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. disclosed more than $100 billion in profit outside the United States in their most recent fiscal years, making them prime targets of President Joe Biden's proposals to boost taxes on earnings stashed overseas.

The tax proposals, unveiled this month to help foot the bill for massive infrastructure plans, target common tactics used by U.S. multinationals such as stashing income-generating assets in low-tax offshore jurisdictions. The tech industry is particularly adept at shifting profits to tax-friendly locales because its main assets—software code, patents, and other intellectual property —are relatively easy to move around compared with factories and physical assets.

Former President Donald Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was supposed to crack down on offshore tax maneuvering, but Republicans neutered the rules by adding extra deductions and other benefits, according to Andrew Silverman, a tax policy analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.