The resurgence of the fortunes of the estate of Michael Jackson has been in the news including the massive deal that sold his stake in music publisher EMI to Sony for close to a billion dollars. However, the estate has also been faced with massive tax bills from the sale as well as a dispute over the value of the late singers image and naming rights. The estate valued those rights at a surprisingly small $2100 on his final tax return but the IRS countered with a valuation over four hundred million dollars. Observers state this has the potential to be one of the biggest estate valuation cases to ever hit Tax Court and will likely require much in the way of expert opinion to reach a number that represents the true worth of Jackson’s image. However, the estate had already made a statement touching on the subject by noting that no more than $50 million was earned before his death and criticized the IRS valuation for being nearly 10 times larger. But, as of now, only time will tell who turns out to be right.
See Eriq Gardner, Michael Jackson Estate Faces Billion-Dollar Tax Court Battle, The Hollywood Reporter, April 20, 2016.
