GUARANTEES AND CONTINGENCIES

9 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

We have entered into the following contractual obligations with minimum payments for the indicated fiscal periods as follows:


	Payments due between
	Total		April 1, 2023 - June 30, 2023		July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2025		July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2027		July 1, 2027 and beyond
Long-term debt obligations (1)	$	12,653,743	$	173,013	$	2,616,207	$	1,050,435	$	8,814,088
Purchase obligations for contracts not accounted for as lease obligations (2)	192,102		15,734		114,106		62,262		—
	$	12,845,845	$	188,747	$	2,730,313	$	1,112,697	$	8,814,088

______________________

(1)Includes interest up to maturity and principal payments. Please see Note 11 “Long-Term Debt” for more details.

(2)For contractual obligations relating to leases and purchase obligations accounted for under ASC Topic 842, please see Note 6 “Leases.”

Guarantees and Indemnifications

We have entered into customer agreements which may include provisions to indemnify our customers against third-party claims that our software products or services infringe certain third-party intellectual property rights and for liabilities related to a breach of our confidentiality obligations. We have not made any material payments in relation to such indemnification provisions and have not accrued any liabilities related to these indemnification provisions in our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

Occasionally, we enter into financial guarantees with third parties in the ordinary course of our business, including, among others, guarantees relating to taxes and letters of credit on behalf of parties with whom we conduct business. Such agreements have not had a material effect on our results of operations, financial position or cash flows.

Litigation

We are currently involved in various claims and legal proceedings.

Quarterly, we review the status of each significant legal matter and evaluate such matters to determine how they should be treated for accounting and disclosure purposes in accordance with the requirements of ASC Topic 450-20 “Loss Contingencies” (Topic 450-20). Specifically, this evaluation process includes the centralized tracking and itemization of the status of all our disputes and litigation items, discussing the nature of any litigation and claim, including any dispute or claim that is reasonably likely to result in litigation, with relevant internal and external counsel, and assessing the progress of each matter in light of its merits and our experience with similar proceedings under similar circumstances.

If the potential loss from any claim or legal proceeding is considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated, we accrue a liability for the estimated loss in accordance with Topic 450-20. As of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, the aggregate of such accrued liabilities was not material to our consolidated financial position or results of operations and we do not believe as of the date of this filing that it is reasonably possible that a loss exceeding the amounts already recognized will be incurred that would be material to our consolidated financial position or results of operations. As described more fully below, we are unable at this time to estimate a possible loss or range of losses in respect of certain disclosed matters.

Contingencies

CRA Matter

As part of its ongoing audit of our Canadian tax returns, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has disputed our transfer pricing methodology used for certain intercompany transactions with our international subsidiaries and has issued notices of reassessment for Fiscal 2012, Fiscal 2013, Fiscal 2014, Fiscal 2015 and Fiscal 2016. Assuming the utilization of available tax attributes (further described below), we estimate our potential aggregate liability, as of March 31, 2023, in connection with the CRA's reassessments for Fiscal 2012, Fiscal 2013, Fiscal 2014, Fiscal 2015 and Fiscal 2016, to be limited to penalties, interest and provincial taxes that may be due of approximately $73 million. As of March 31, 2023, we have provisionally paid approximately $32 million in order to fully preserve our rights to object to the CRA's audit positions, being the minimum

payment required under Canadian legislation while the matter is in dispute. This amount is recorded within “Long-term income taxes recoverable” on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2023.

The notices of reassessment for Fiscal 2012, Fiscal 2013, Fiscal 2014, Fiscal 2015 and Fiscal 2016 would, as drafted, increase our taxable income by approximately $90 million to $100 million for each of those years, as well as impose a 10% penalty on the proposed adjustment to income. Audits by the CRA of our tax returns for fiscal years prior to Fiscal 2012 have been completed with no reassessment of our income tax liability.

We strongly disagree with the CRA's positions and believe the reassessments of Fiscal 2012, Fiscal 2013, Fiscal 2014, Fiscal 2015 and Fiscal 2016 (including any penalties) are without merit, and we are continuing to contest these reassessments. On June 30, 2022, we filed a notice of appeal with the Tax Court of Canada seeking to reverse all such reassessments (including penalties) in full and the customary court process is ongoing.

Even if we are unsuccessful in challenging the CRA's reassessments to increase our taxable income for Fiscal 2012, Fiscal 2013, Fiscal 2014, Fiscal 2015 and Fiscal 2016, we have elective deductions available for those years (including carry-backs from later years) that would offset such increased amounts so that no additional cash tax would be payable, exclusive of any assessed penalties and interest, as described above.

The CRA has audited Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2018 on a basis that we strongly disagree with and are contesting. The focus of the CRA audit has been the valuation of certain intellectual property and goodwill when one of our subsidiaries continued into Canada from Luxembourg in July 2016. In accordance with applicable rules, these assets were recognized for tax purposes at fair market value as of that time, which value was supported by an expert valuation prepared by an independent leading accounting and advisory firm. CRA’s position for Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2018 relies in significant part on the application of its positions regarding our transfer pricing methodology that are the basis for its reassessment of our fiscal years 2012 to 2016 described above, and that we believe are without merit. Other aspects of CRA’s position for Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2018 conflict with the expert valuation prepared by the independent leading accounting and advisory firm that was used to support our original filing position. The CRA issued notices of reassessment in respect of Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2018 on a basis consistent with its proposal to reduce the available depreciable basis of assets in Canada. On April 19, 2022, we filed our notice of objection regarding the reassessment in respect of Fiscal 2017 and on March 15, 2023, we filed our notice of objection regarding the reassessment in respect of Fiscal 2018. If we are ultimately unsuccessful in defending our position, the estimated impact of the proposed adjustment could result in us recording an income tax expense, with no immediate cash payment, to reduce the stated value of our deferred tax assets of up to approximately $470 million. Any such income tax expense could also have a corresponding cash tax impact that would primarily occur over a period of several future years based upon annual income realization in Canada. We strongly disagree with the CRA’s position for Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2018 and intend to vigorously defend our original filing position. We are not required to provisionally pay any cash amounts to the CRA as a result of the reassessment in respect of Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2018 due to the utilization of available tax attributes; however, to the extent the CRA reassesses subsequent fiscal years on a similar basis, we expect to make certain minimum payments required under Canadian legislation, which may need to be provisionally made starting in Fiscal 2024 while the matter is in dispute.

We will continue to vigorously contest the adjustments to our taxable income and any penalty and interest assessments, as well as any reduction to the basis of our depreciable property. We are confident that our original tax filing positions were appropriate. Accordingly, as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, we have not recorded any accruals in respect of these reassessments or proposed reassessment in our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. The CRA is currently in preliminary stages of auditing Fiscal 2019.

Carbonite Class Action Complaint

On August 1, 2019, prior to our acquisition of Carbonite, a purported stockholder of Carbonite filed a putative class action complaint against Carbonite, its former Chief Executive Officer, Mohamad S. Ali, and its former Chief Financial Officer, Anthony Folger, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts captioned Ruben A. Luna, Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated v. Carbonite, Inc., Mohamad S. Ali, and Anthony Folger (No. 1:19-cv-11662-LTS) (the Luna Complaint). The complaint alleges violations of the federal securities laws under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. The complaint generally alleges that the defendants made materially false and misleading statements in connection with Carbonite’s Server Backup VM Edition, and seeks, among other things, the designation of the action as a class action, an award of unspecified compensatory damages, costs and expenses, including counsel fees and expert fees, and other relief as the court deems appropriate. On August 23, 2019, a nearly identical complaint was filed in the same court captioned William Feng, Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated v. Carbonite, Inc., Mohamad S. Ali, and Anthony Folger (No. 1:19- cv-11808-LTS) (together with the Luna Complaint, the Securities Actions). On November 21, 2019, the district court consolidated the Securities Actions, appointed a lead plaintiff, and designated a lead counsel. On January 15, 2020, the lead plaintiff filed a consolidated amended complaint generally making the same allegations and seeking the same relief as the complaint filed on August 1, 2019. The defendants moved to dismiss the Securities Actions on March 10, 2020. On October 22, 2020, the district court granted with prejudice the

defendants’ motion to dismiss the Securities Actions. On November 20, 2020, the lead plaintiff filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. On December 21, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a decision reversing and remanding the Securities Actions to the district court for further proceedings. The parties are engaged in discovery. The defendants remain confident in their position, believe the Securities Actions are without merit, and will continue to vigorously defend the matter.

Carbonite vs Realtime Data

On February 27, 2017, before our acquisition of Carbonite, a non-practicing entity named Realtime Data LLC (Realtime Data) filed a lawsuit against Carbonite in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas captioned Realtime Data LLC v. Carbonite, Inc. et al (No 6:17-cv-00121-RWS-JDL). Therein, it alleged that certain of Carbonite’s cloud storage services infringe upon certain patents held by Realtime Data. Realtime Data’s complaint against Carbonite sought damages in an unspecified amount and injunctive relief. On December 19, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas transferred the case to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (No. 1:17-cv-12499). Realtime Data has also filed numerous other patent suits on the same asserted patents against other companies. After a stay pending appeal in one of those suits, on January 21, 2021, the district court held a hearing to construe the claims of the asserted patents. As to the fourth patent asserted against Carbonite, on September 24, 2019, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidated certain claims of that patent, including certain claims that had been asserted against Carbonite. The parties then jointly stipulated to dismiss that patent from this action. On August 23, 2021, in one of the suits against other companies, the District of Delaware (No. 1:17-cv-800), held all of the patents asserted against Carbonite to be invalid. Realtime Data has appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. We continue to vigorously defend the matter, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has issued a claim construction order. We have not accrued a loss contingency related to this matter because litigation related to a non-practicing entity is inherently unpredictable. Although a loss is reasonably possible, an unfavorable outcome is not considered by management to be probable at this time and we remain unable to reasonably estimate a possible loss or range of loss associated with this litigation.

Other Matters

Please see Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for Fiscal 2022, Part II, Item 1A “Risk Factors” included elsewhere within this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as well as Micro Focus’ Audited Consolidated Financial Statements for the years ended October 31, 2022 and 2021, included in our Form 8-K/A filed on April 10, 2023, related to certain historical matters arising prior to the Micro Focus Acquisition.