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(Salt Lake City-AP) -- The Utah Tax Commission is taking a look into some of Zions Bank's efforts to avoid paying taxes.
The investigation focuses on whether Zions First National Bank misused two investment companies that were set up three years ago to shield income from state taxes.
In a news story yesterday, The Wall Street Journal named ten major banks across the nation -- including Zions -- that had used the so-called "regulated investment company subsidiaries".
After seeing that, the Utah Tax Commission told their auditors to start looking into Zions Bank to see if the company had an unpaid tax liability.
Zions spokesman Rob Brough says the company has always believed that the investment procedure was legal and appropriate.
Salt Lake City-based Zions operates in Utah and seven other states.
Spokesman Brough says the company received modest income tax benefits in California by using the investment technique. But he says there were no Utah tax savings and no federal tax savings.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
