Tax win for Jackson heirs

A US tax court has handed a major victory to the estate of Michael Jackson in a years-long battle, finding that the Internal Revenue Service wildly inflated the value at the time of his death of Jackson’s assets and image, leading to an estate tax bill for his heirs that was far too high. The IRS had put the value of three disputed aspects of Jackson’s worth at the time of his 2009 death at $482 million (NZ$671m). In his decision issued Tuesday, Judge Mark Holmes put that figure at $111m, far closer to the estate’s own estimates. The estate’s executors said it was a huge and unambiguous victory for Jackson’s children.