Overview
Law360 quoted Matt Frank in an article titled "Coke Hires Constitutional Expert For Transfer Pricing Case." The article, published February 24, discusses Coca-Cola hiring a Harvard professor and noted expert in constitutional law to represent the company in its transfer pricing dispute with the IRS. A February 10 financial filing says Coca-Cola believes the IRS' retroactive assessment of tax liability is unconstitutional, and calls out the IRS for changing the way it calculated royalty income from the company's foreign subsidiaries after decades.
Frank says that Coca-Cola may have problems raising a constitutional argument on appeal when it didn't raise that argument in the Tax Court. "Coca-Cola did not raise a constitutional argument in the trial court. It didn't even hint at one," he says. "The argument outlined today is an entirely new one that hasn't been road-tested."
The full article can be read at Law360 (subscription required).