By: Andy Dong

When the famous superstar Michael Jackson died, he owed around 500 million dollars at the time of his death in 2009. Because of his lavish lifestyle and spending, Jackson’s assets and properties accumulated interest extremely fast, which led to a huge amount of debt. The Jackson estate is currently in a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service due to tax issues and additional payments.

Jackson owed millions to the tour promoter A.E.G, where 65 creditors made claims against Jackson after he died. These claims led to other lawsuits, in which he was accumulating an extremely high amount of interest. The Jackson estate later authorized the payment of 3.5 million dollars to many legal firms for their work in 2018. In the filing, it is said that the estate’s debt was eliminated and almost all of the creditor’s claims were resolved.

During his career, Jackson earned hundreds of millions of dollars because of his big-selling albums and popular concert tours. However, when Jackson died at 50, he left behind a huge mess of assets and liabilities.

During his life, Jackson spent money freely with abandon. He collected debt from his Neverland Ranch in Southern California and enjoyed purchasing expensive art, jewelry, and private jets. He was paying 30 million dollars on interest payments due to his lavish lifestyle.

As of now, the IRS is accusing the Jackson estate of undervaluing its assets and is fining the estate an additional 700 million dollars in taxes as well as penalties, which the Jackson estate is protesting against.

Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/arts/michael-jackson-debt.html