The Coca-Cola Company has agreed to pay $6 billion in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) while appealing the judge’s decision in the case.

The Coca-Cola Company announced on Friday that it will settle a long-standing tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by paying $6 billion in back taxes and interest. The company intends to appeal the final decision made by the federal tax court in a case that has been ongoing for 17 years.

The Atlanta-based beverage corporation has expressed its intention to persist in its legal battle, asserting confidence in its ability to prevail in the ongoing dispute regarding taxes and interest that the IRS claims the company owes for the years 2007, 2008, and 2009. In a statement, the company indicated its eagerness to initiate the appellate process and confirmed that it will remit the agreed-upon liability and interest as part of this procedure. Coca-Cola spokesperson Scott Leith refrained from providing further comments to The Associated Press.

On Friday, U.S. Tax Court Judge Albert Lauber issued a brief ruling concluding his examination of the case, which had been brought to court in December 2015, shortly after Coca-Cola disclosed to the IRS an additional $3.3 billion in federal taxes and interest owed for the specified years. In its statement, Coca-Cola accused the IRS of altering the methodology used to calculate the company's U.S. income derived from profits exceeding $9 billion from foreign licensees and affiliates.

An IRS representative did not respond promptly to a request for comment from AP regarding the matter. In a 2015 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Coca-Cola stated that it had employed the same approach to determine its taxable U.S. income from foreign affiliates for nearly three decades. In a quarterly report submitted to the SEC on Monday, which included guidance for investors, the company asserted that both the IRS and Judge Lauber had "misinterpreted and misapplied the applicable regulations" in reallocating income generated by the company’s foreign licensees.

The publicly traded entity anticipates that "some or all of the $6 billion, along with accrued interest, would be refunded" should Coca-Cola succeed in its appeal, for which it has a 90-day window to file the necessary documents.

Last week, the organization revised its annual sales projection upward in response to the second quarter’s outperformance, which was primarily attributed to strategic pricing adjustments implemented for our product offerings.