WASHINGTON, D.C., April 6, 2017: Morgan Lewis obtained a significant victory as lead counsel on behalf of firm client Amazon.com, Inc. in a transfer pricing dispute with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that could have left the world’s largest online retailer and innovation pioneer facing over a billion dollars of additional tax liability. The dispute before the United States Tax Court was one of the largest transfer pricing cases ever litigated and the first involving e-commerce.
In ruling against the IRS, the court found the IRS’ approach in determining the proper tax due upon Amazon’s creation of a European headquarters to be arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.
The Morgan Lewis team representing Amazon was led by partners John Magee, Sanford Stark, and Saul Mezei. Partners John Ryan and John Polito; senior counsels Beth Williams and Bob Kirschenbaum; and associates Michael Kummer, Terrell Ussing, Hans Gerling-Ritters, and Nick Zemil provided support. Lawyers from Skadden, Arps also assisted and represented Amazon during the case.