Chicago Sun-Times

Court hands tax win to heirs of Michael Jackson

- BY ANDREW DALTON

LOS ANGELES — A U.S. tax court has handed a major victory to the estate of Michael Jackson in a yearslong battle, finding that the IRS 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 about $482 million. In his decision issued Monday, Judge Mark Holmes put that figure at $111 million, far closer to the estate’s own estimates.

The estate’s executors said it was a huge victory for Jackson’s children.

“We’re pleased,” coexecutor John Branca told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “We always try to do the right thing. We tried from the beginning to follow the IRS rules and regulation­s, and relied on the best experts possible. It’s unfortunat­e that we were forced to litigate to protect ourselves.”

The judge most disagreed with the IRS over the value of Jackson’s image and likeness. While the IRS put it at $161 million, Holmes ruled it was just $4.15 million. He noted that despite Jackson’s acquittal on all counts at his 2005 trial for child molestatio­n, the allegation­s continued to dog him, and while Jackson was selling out dates for a planned world tour when he died, he could not find a sponsor or merchandis­e partner.

“The fact that he earned not a penny from his image and likeness in 2006, 2007, or 2008 shows the effect those allegation­s had, and continued to have, until his death,” Holmes wrote in the 271-page decision.

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Michael Jackson

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