THE United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is seeking to recover about US$1.4 billion in taxes it claims are owed by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the regional lender that failed last year.

The federal tax agency claims the California-based lender owes both corporate income and employment taxes spanning a four-year period ending in 2023, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday (Feb 13) in Washington federal court. The complaint was brought against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which is the receiver of the collapsed bank.

The complaint comes on the heels of a similar one from New York City, which is trying to collect more than US$2.1 million in back taxes it claims SVB owes. The bank’s collapse almost a year ago represented the biggest US bank failure in more than a decade and marked the start of a crisis in the sector. In January, the parent company of SVB entered a deal with major creditors as the bankruptcy case moved towards a resolution.

The IRS noted in its court filing that the amount sought represents an estimate “because pending examinations of the tax returns were underway”. The agency determined that some of the employment taxes had been paid, according to the filing, which did not specify how much. BLOOMBERG