Levi Strauss to Review Data Sought by IRS

Levi Strauss & Co. reached an agreement with two former tax managers who are suing the company that would allow it to review accounting documents sought by the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS is conducting audits of Levi’s accounting during the 1990s. Robert Schmidt and Thomas Walsh, former employees at San Francisco-based Levi’s global tax department, claim in a suit that the company cheated the IRS out of $70 million in 1997 and 1998. Levi denies the claims.

A spokeswoman said the company wanted to establish a procedure that would prevent privileged information from being disclosed by Schmidt and Walsh.