Michael Jackson Estate’s Tax Win a Warning to Aggressive IRS

A ruling that Michael Jackson’s image and likeness at the time of his death were worth about $157 million less than the IRS estimated warns the agency not to look too far down the road when assessing the value of a celebrity’s estate.

Jackson’s fame and the potential implications for taxes on other high net-worth estates meant the case, which had been pending at the Tax Court since 2013, attracted wide attention. While much of the May 3 opinion focused on fact-based issues that may look different in other cases, estate tax specialists said the the ...