Casey’s reveals $31.5 million tax error; plans 72-108 new stores

Ankeny, Iowa – Casey’s General Stores Inc. will revise its financial statements for fiscal years 2012, 2013 and 2014 and the first quarter of fiscal year 2015, due to a $31.5 million error in how it accounted for excise tax on sales of ethanol fuel. The retailer also stated a fiscal 2015 goal of building or acquiring 72-108 new stores and replacing 25 existing stores.

Total tax error for fiscal 2012 was $3.5 million, with no interest, while total tax error for fiscal 2013 was $11.3 million, with $217,000 interest. Casey’s also reported a total tax error of $12.3 million with interest of $645,000 in fiscal 2014 and total tax error of $3.3 million with interest of $207,000 in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. The impact to Casey’s fully diluted earnings per share is approximately 4.5 cents in each of the affected quarters.

“We deeply regret the errors that led to this revision, and we are taking swift and decisive action to enhance our excise tax reporting process and systems to resolve this issue,” said Robert J. Myers, chairman and CEO of Casey’s. “While we are disappointed to revise our financial results, it’s important to note this inadvertent error was in a single area of our reporting.”