Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

Soft drink manufacturer Coca-Cola has been ordered by a court to make billions in payments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to cover back taxes.

On July 31, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that there were deficiencies in income tax dues payable by Coca-Cola to the IRS for the 2007–09 period to the tune of approximately $2.7 billion. Adding in interest, the total amount payable by Coca-Cola comes to around $6 billion, the company said in an Aug. 2 press release.

Coca-Cola said it will defend its position and criticized the decision, stating "the IRS and the Tax Court misinterpreted and misapplied the applicable regulations involved in the case."

With 90 days to file a notice of appeal, Coca-Cola intends to pay the roughly $6 billion owed while it proceeds with the appeals process.

The issue stems from a notice sent by the IRS to Coca-Cola in September 2015, in which the agency sought $3.3 billion in additional income tax for 2007–09.