IBM says its plans to repatriate $8 billion (€6.1 billion) to the United States will not affect its Irish operation.

The money is undistributed profits earned outside the United States and it is being repatriated under a one-time US tax holiday policy.

In a regulatory filing, the world's largest computer company said that recognising the $8 billion in profits would result in an income tax expense of up to $550 million.

The company said it would take this as a charge against quarterly earnings, once the company's management and its board of directors approve the plan.

However, IBM said the profit repatriation should not affect its Irish operations, which employ more than 4,000 people.

An IBM spokesperson said: "While we cannot discuss the specifics of these transactions, IBM remains committed to Ireland and its continued investment in its Irish operations."

IBM also said it had discovered in the past month that certain employees of its global services business in Japan improperly resold equipment from another company, cutting its 2004 sales and costs by $260 million.

Of the total reduction, IBM's fourth-quarter earnings reported in January had already factored in a $50 million cut.

In a news conference in Tokyo yesterday, IBM Japan said some of its employees had improperly recorded business transactions but there was nothing criminal and no damage was done to its clients.

"We have set a quite rigid internal code of conduct. It's regrettable that the conduct of some of our employees went against that high standard," said IBM Japan president Mr Takuma Otoshi.

Mr Otoshi declined to go into details but said the misconduct involved costs and sales that were posted in violation of IBM's internal accounting policy.

Mr Otoshi said the company was taking appropriate disciplinary action but declined to elaborate.