Federal Judge Rules Amgen Must Face Tax Liability Lawsuit That Alleges Reckless Concealment Of $10.7B Tax Bill

A federal judge has ruled that Amgen Inc. AMGN must address a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing the company of delaying disclosures regarding its potential $10.7 billion tax liability.

The case argues that shareholders were misled when Amgen allegedly concealed the risk of owing billions to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

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The Reuters report highlighted that a U.S. District Judge determined that shareholders had a reasonable basis for claiming that Amgen had acted recklessly in not revealing the size of its tax dispute.

In a March complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, a Detroit-based pension fund said Amgen concealed the dispute over its international tax strategy between July 2020 and April 2022 and had its investors wait too long to disclose a $10.7 billion tax and penalty bill.

The judge’s ruling highlighted that Amgen’s failure to inform investors of the potential liability properly was substantial.

Despite Amgen’s defense that it had not hidden the IRS’s position and had warned about the agency’s increased scrutiny, shareholders saw significant losses following the eventual disclosures.

In its latest quarterly June report, the company said the IRS positions set forth in the 2010–2012 and 2013–2015 Notices are without merit. The two cases were consolidated in the U.S. Tax Court on December 19, 2022. The trial is currently scheduled to begin on November 4, 2024.

Price Action: AMGN stock is down 0.84% at $317.64 at the last check on Wednesday.

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