On the near eve of his 55th birthday (August 29) there is yet another hurdle facing the estate of the late Michael Jackson.
Though said estate was able to pay off the star’s enormous personal debt, said to be nearly a half billion dollars, according to Reuters, the IRS now claims the King of Pop owes them $702 million in Federal taxes and penalties.
The tax filing in question came in the same year Jackson died, 2009, from an overdose of propofol. That year the Jackson estate claimed $7 million in taxable value, but was issued a tax deficiency notice of $505.1 million in taxes and $196.9 million in penalties earlier this year.
The estate filed a court challenge to the bill in July.
Jackson’s estate said that the artist’s image and likeness were valued at $2,105, while the IRS determined the value to be $434 million.
A rep for the Jackson estate said the IRS’s appraisal values ”were based on speculative and erroneous assumptions unsupported by the facts or law.” According to the rep, the estate has paid $100 million in taxes.
The Jackson estate will not need to pay any taxes or penalties unless the court rules in favor of the IRS’s claim.
