Devices & Diagnostics, MedCity Influencers

Boston Scientific inherits Guidant’s $525 million tax bill

The Internal Revenue Service wants Boston Scientific to pony up $525.1 million plus interest on back taxes owed by BSX subsidiary Guidant Corp.

The Internal Revenue Service wants Boston Scientific to pony up $525.1 million plus interest on back taxes owed by BSX subsidiary Guidant Corp.

Guidant Corp. is the gift that keeps on taking away for Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX), this time via a $525.1 million dunning from the Internal Revenue Service.

The misguided $27 billion acquisition has been nothing but trouble since BSX bought the defibrillator maker in 2006. Now the IRS wants Guidant’s parent to pay more than half a billion dollars — plus interest — to settle Guidant’s tax bill from 2001, 2002 and 2003, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Boston Scientific said it disputes the agency’s tally of transfer pricing between domestic and foreign Guidant subsidiaries, according to the filing.

“We do not agree with the transfer pricing methodologies applied by the IRS or its resulting assessment,” BSX wrote. “No payments on the assessment would be required until the dispute is definitively resolved, which, based on experiences of other companies, could take several years.”

The company said it expects to be able to cover any expenses and tax liabilities from the case with its income tax reserves.


MassDevice Staff

The Massachusetts Medical Devices Journal is the online journal of the medical devices industry in the Commonwealth and New England, providing day-to-day coverage of the devices that save lives, the people behind them, and the burgeoning trends and developments within the industry.

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