I am not sure, if I were asked to, which one I would put my money on in this battle. While both are mammoth forces to be reckoned with, social media giant Facebook might be smarter. However, the IRS has been indomitable for decades.

According to the IRS, Facebook owes them billions – roughly $3 to $5 billion!

And the real slap in the face is that apparently Facebook has failed to respond to the IRS not just once, but a total of seven times. That is pretty brave! I cannot imagine an ordinary citizen ignoring the IRS so many times without suffering dire consequences. But, then again, it is always the little guy who gets bullied the most.

It seems Facebook attracted IRS attention when they transferred assets to an Irish holding company that they own.

According to an article at Forbes,

The social media giant is currently under an IRS exam of its federal income tax liability for 2008 to 2013 (subsequent years may also, according to Facebook, be ‘open’ to exam). The company has, according to court documents, provided the IRS with some records. However, the IRS alleges that Facebook ‘has not provided documents response to the seven summonses at issue here.’

The Forbes article also stated that “Part of the IRS exam focuses on agreements between Facebook Inc. and Facebook Ireland to transfer some of Facebook’s worldwide business rights. The IRS is trying to determine whether Facebook’s outside accountants . . . undervalued those assets.”

Without a doubt this is going to be an interesting case to watch. And since just about everyone around the world knows Facebook and probably has a Facebook account, the whole world will be watching. I am not sure if Facebook will walk away without having to pay any part of that multi-billion dollar tax bill; but you never know when two Goliaths face off!