Michael Lee Sherwood, CIO for the city of Oceanside, Calif., said he doesn't plan to make any changes to his Veritas backup environment 'based on this information as it presently stands. However, things could change based on the final outcome.'

Symantec announced this week that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service last month ruled that the company and its Veritas subsidiary had misstated the value of intellectual property held by an Irish subsidiary. The IRS claims that both Symantec and Veritas Software Corp. underpriced intellectual property that the two companies licensed to their Irish subsidiaries. Both Symantec and Veritas, which was purchased by Symantec in 2005, set up the subsidiaries to do business outside of the U.S.

The IRS believes that Symantec owes about $900 million, excluding penalties and interest, in connection with the Veritas claim, which covers the company's 2000 and 2001 tax returns. Another $100 million is due in connection with Symantec's fiscal 2003 and 2004 reports.

An IRS official said the agency does not comment on specific cases. Meanwhile, a Symantec spokeswoman said the company plans to appeal the agency's ruling.

Symantec's stock dropped more than 4 percent after the tax bill became public.