IRS probes UnitedHealth Group over alleged overseas tax dodge

Bob covers the money in health care, focusing on health insurance and hospitals. His stories delve into Medicare Advantage, opaque prescription drug benefits, and how much executives actually make. He is also the author of the Health Care Inc. newsletter. You can reach Bob on Signal at bobjherman.09.

The Internal Revenue Service is investigating UnitedHealth Group, with an initial probe determining the health care conglomerate underpaid taxes during a four-year period by funneling money through a foreign subsidiary.

The IRS is “seeking to significantly increase taxable income” from 2017 through 2020 and may force UnitedHealth to pay more “for subsequent years after 2020,” UnitedHealth revealed in a recent regulatory filing. UnitedHealth received the notices, which have not been reported, from the IRS in March. 

These types of audits from the IRS are exceedingly rare and focus on how big companies transfer profits within themselves. Given UnitedHealth’s size as one of the five largest companies in the world by revenue, this examination likely involves substantial sums of money.