GOOG Google says in dispute with SEC on tax accounting - Reuters (448.23 ) ***** Reuters reports Google (GOOG) disclosed in its 2006 annual report on Thursday that the SEC nearly a year ago had called into question how it accounted for income taxes. In its annual 10K securities filing, Google said it received an initial letter from the SEC on March 16, 2006, on various issues and subsequently corresponded with the agency as recently as January 2007. The tax dispute remains unresolved. "We believe that we properly account for our income taxes. We will continue to work to resolve these comments with the SEC,'' the co said in the annual filing. It also warned in the annual report how a growing number of legislative proposals for consumer data protection in the U.S. and other countries could hurt its business if enacted. In a filing with the SEC, they added cautionary language that said its privacy practices risked falling foul of U.S., European or other state or national data protection laws. "It is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our data practices,'' the Google annual report said. "In addition to the possibility of fines, this could result in an order requiring that we change our data practices, which could have a material effect on our business,'' it said. This could drive up Google's costs or force it to change some business practices, the filing said.