Pitney Bowes Inc., a manufacturer of postage meters, mailing systems and other equipment, agreed to a $1.1 billion tax settlement with the Internal Revenue Service.
The largest part of the settlement -- about $900 million -- resulted from the May sale of Pitney Bowes' Capital Services external financing business for $745 million. The IRS tab represented the amount owed on transactions the company entered into over the past 15 years. The taxes would have been due over the next 20 years, but the sale accelerated the time at which it must be paid.
The remaining payments reflect taxes owed on other transactions, and will be mostly paid using an advance on the company's Corporate Owned Life Insurance investments.
Pitney Bowes, which had already accounted for the liability in its statements, expects to spread payment of the $1.1 billion over the next six months.
