Tech, Accounting Giants Seek Reversal of Altera Tax Ruling (1)

Tech and accounting giants implored the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Ninth Circuit decision upholding regulations that required Altera Corp. to include stock-based compensation among the assets it shifted overseas for tax purposes.

The issue can arise in the cost-sharing arrangements that multinationals have used to value and pay taxes on intangible assets—things like trademarks and copyrights—that they shift from a U.S. company to a foreign affiliate. Apple Inc., Google Inc., and Facebook Inc., as well as three of the world’s four largest accounting firms, told the Supreme Court that billions of dollars are at stake for companies.

The ...