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Tyco under-reported its tax bill by $14m

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Bermuda-based Tyco International Ltd. said it under-reported taxes by $14 million in the five quarters ended in December and restated results to correct the error. The company also said its break-up will occur later than planned.Tyco, which is run from West Windsor, New Jersey, is working to fix some of its tax accounting controls, the company said in a statement on Friday. The company may also incur a pretax expense of $100 million for goodwill impairment at or just before the break-up, it said in a regulatory filing.

The company now forecasts its separation into three publicly traded companies, announced in January, 2006, may be completed by the end of the second quarter. In February, chief executive Ed Breen told investors on a conference call said it would take place “hopefully by the end of April.” Breen and his board decided to break up Tyco to boost shareholder return.

“We would not be surprised to see it get pushed out even further” than June 30 because of the complexity and approvals needed for the break-up, Credit Suisse analyst Nicole Parent wrote in a note to analysts on April 16. She rates Tyco “neutral”. There were no material tax misstatements before the year ended in September and quarter ended in December, Tyco said in its statement.

Tyco last year forecast total break-up costs at about $1 billion and said most of those expenses would be incurred close to the actual split. The company on Friday said it will reclassify a joint venture in its engineered products and services division a discontinued unit. Tyco shares have risen 24 percent in the past year.