KPMG Agrees on Tax Shelter Settlement

Accounting firm KPMG has agreed to settle a federal investigation into its tax shelter business by paying $456 million and allowing its operations to be checked by an outside monitor, the New York Times reported in its online edition.

The deal, expected to be announced Monday, would mean that KPMG would be spared an indictment that could sink the firm. Several former partners could still face criminal charges, the newspaper reported. KPMG declined to comment.

KPMG was one of several firms caught up in the government’s investigation of questionable tax shelters. A 2003 Senate probe found that shelters marketed by KPMG cost the government $1.4 billion in lost taxes between 1996 and 2002.