Coca-Cola To Pay $6 Billion In IRS Back Taxes

Coca-Cola Co. announced on Friday that it will pay $6 billion in back taxes and interest to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) while it appeals a final federal tax court decision in a case that dates back 17 years, Ken Ritter reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Coca-Cola accused the IRS of changing how it allowed the company to calculate U.S. income based on profits exceeding $9 billion from foreign licensees and affiliates. I Photo: Tom Driggers Flickr

The Atlanta-based beverage giant said it will continue to fight the decision and believes it will ultimately win the legal dispute stemming from taxes and interest that the IRS claims the company owes from 2007, 2008, and 2009.

"The company looks forward to the opportunity to begin the appellate process and, as part of that process, will pay the agreed-upon liability and interest," Coca-Cola said in a statement.

U.S. Tax Court Judge Albert Lauber issued a two-sentence decision and order, concluding his review of the case.

The dispute reached court in December 2015, shortly after the company informed the IRS that it owed $3.3 billion more in federal taxes and interest for those three years. Coca-Cola accused the IRS of changing how it allowed the company to calculate U.S. income based on profits exceeding $9 billion from foreign licensees and affiliates.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing in 2015, Coca-Cola stated that it had been using the same method to calculate its taxable U.S. income from foreign affiliates for nearly 30 years.