Bristol-Myers Squibb to Take $3 Billion Charge Related to Tax Overhaul

By Jonathan D. Rockoff

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Friday it expects to pay an extra $3 billion in taxes on its overseas cash in the fourth quarter, a result of the tax overhaul.

New York-based Bristol is the latest company to outline the tax bill it faces under the new law, which levies a tax on profits made abroad ahead of eliminating U.S. taxes on future foreign earnings.

Technology and drug companies especially had been keeping hundreds of billions of dollars outside the U.S. to avoid paying the 35% corporate tax under the old U.S. tax system.

The biggest drug companies, including Bristol, have $166 billion in cash overseas and $501 billion in unremitted earnings overall, Morgan Stanley estimates. Bristol has $8 billion in cash and $26 billion in unremitted earnings, according to the bank's estimates.

In a filing with securities regulators, Bristol said the tax charge "will impact" the company's forecasted 2017 tax rate and earnings per share, but won't affect its non-GAAP financial guidance.

Bristol "is still evaluating all the provisions of the tax reform legislation and currently estimates that the net impact of tax reform on the non-GAAP tax rate as roughly neutral in 2018," the company said.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has said it would take a $5 billion charge to earnings, while biotech Amgen Inc. has said it expects to pay at least $6 billion because of the new law.

Write to Jonathan D. Rockoff at Jonathan.Rockoff@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 05, 2018 19:33 ET (00:33 GMT)

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