Glaxo faces court over unpaid taxes
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is facing a possible trial with the Internal Revenue Service in the US over claims abour unpaid tax.
According to reports, the Internal Revenue Service in the US believes GlaxoSmithKline Holdings, the drug giant’s US arm, should have paid more tax but did not because of the sums it allegedly ‘overpaid’ its British parent company for six top-selling drugs, including the ulcer drug Zantac, which brought in revenues of $29.5 (£20bn).
The payment relates to the years 1989 through 1999.
The Guardian reported the drug’s company as saying it hoped to resolve matter through ‘government-level discussions between the UK and US tax authorities’.
GlaxoSmithKline spokesman Alan Chandler told The Washington Post ‘We believe that the profits that were reported by our U.S. subsidiary … fairly reflect the activities that were carried out at our U.S. operations.’
The IRS has refused to deny or confirm any dispute with GlaxoSmithKline.