IBM denies tax evasion in Japan

TOKYO: IBM Japan on Thursday denied it had evaded taxes after news reports said authorities were probing whether it had failed to declare more than 4.4 billion dollars in income.

According to the Asahi Shimbun daily, its holding company IBM AP Holdings failed to declare 400 billion yen (4.4 billion dollars) and may be asked to pay back taxes worth more than 30 billion yen.

The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau "appears to have judged that the group generated losses by manipulating intra-group trade of IBM Japan shares so as to evade taxation," the report said.

IBM Japan declined to comment on the report's details but said in a statement: "IBM has fully paid all taxes required under Japanese law. All Japanese transactions adhered to Japanese tax law."

"IBM intends to file an appeal of the tax assessment."