Aretha Franklin’s Estate Owes Millions in Unpaid Taxes, IRS Says

The IRS claims Aretha Franklin’s estate owes nearly $8 million in taxes and penalties the singer failed to pay during her life.

The agency, in a statement filed with the probate court in Oakland County, Mich., claims the Queen of Soul’s estate owed about $6.3 million in unpaid income taxes. A separate document, also filed Dec. 19, tacks on an additional $1.5 million in penalties the Internal Revenue Service alleges that Franklin accrued.

Franklin died of pancreatic cancer in August. The proceedings involving Franklin’s estate, estimated to be worth more than $80 million, ...