Coca-Cola Faces $16 Billion Tax Battle: Ongoing Dispute with IRS Puts Profit and Liquidity at Risk
Coca-Cola has chosen to bet everything on winning. It’s a high risk wager where investors have been provided with minimal disclosure.
Coca-Cola (Ticker: KO) issued a press release on August 2, 2024, just a few days after its 10-K filing, warning investors that the U.S. Tax Court took the next step in the ongoing tax dispute between Coca-Cola and the IRS. The court’s latest decision may cost the Company as much as $16 billion in back taxes. The dispute focuses on an alleged $9 billion misallocation of income between the US parent and subsidiaries in low-tax jurisdictions including obscure African continent locations like Eswatini.
The Financial Times, citing court documents, reported:
“The soft-drink maker has been hiding “astronomical levels” of profit in low-tax countries including Ireland to shield it from the US Internal Revenue Service, according to a withering court judgment, which the company is planning to appeal against later this year.”
(Francine McKenna at The Dig covered in detail the history of the di…