General Motors Corp. says it will ask the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to postpone filing the company's annual report to March 16.
The world's largest automaker had been scheduled to file the Form 10-K for the year 2006 today, but said it could not meet the deadline "without unreasonable effort or expense."
"This isn't a new development because it deals with items that we have previously disclosed," said GM spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem.
On Feb. 16, GM warned that the 10-K filing might be delayed because it needed to restate certain financial information.
In the press release, GM said that retained earnings as of Dec. 31, 2001, and subsequent periods were understated by as much as $450 million to $600 million because of an overstatement of deferred tax liabilities.
The company said it estimates the overstatement at about $1 billion. But the net impact of certain tax adjustments resulted in the understatement of shareholder equity as of Dec. 31, 2001, and subsequent periods of about $500 million.
"We're still taking time to address these issues,"Rashid-Merem said. “At the same time, GMAC is still organizing its financial results."
GMAC is GM's former financing arm.
GM recorded losses of $3.03 billion in the first three quarters of 2006 and $10.6 billion in all of 2005.
In January, GM said it would delay the release of a press statement on the restating of its 2006 results.
