PwC Makes Cash Settlement With IRS

The Internal Revenue Service has announced an agreement with Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) over issues relating to tax shelter registration. PwC has agreed to make what the IRS is calling a "substantial payment" as penalty for marketing corporate tax shelters and then failing to comply with rules requiring the firm to keep a list of such shelters and the clients who participated in them.

Under the terms of the agreement, PwC will continue marketing tax shelters and has reached an agreement whereby the firm will provide the IRS with information about participating clients only when an authorized legal process, such as a summons, is in force.

PwC will not admit to any wrongdoing and has issued a statement indicating that the firm will "continue to pursue tax minimization strategies for our clients while complying fully with tax shelter registration, list maintenance, and promoter requirements."

"This agreement has no impact on our clients' ability to sustain the tax benefits of the tax advice we provided," said the PwC statement. Big Four firm Ernst & Young said that it has cooperated with the IRS regarding a summons the firm received earlier this year. Ernst & Young has been in the spotlight lately for questionable tax advice the firm has provided to some wealthy clients. KPMG and Deloitte & Touche had no comment about the situation.