Michael Jackson's children will be millionaires the moment they receive their £900 million inheritance when they reach 30. However, what they may receive will only be a small portion thereof as authorities are seeking to recover £555 million from the star's estate excluding personal debts of Jackson amounting to around £300 million.
While Jackson's estate is worth close to £1 billion, the debts and taxes which will be paid by the estate prior to distribution to heirs will mostly wipe out the entire inheritance. The three children of Jackson—Prince, 17, Paris, 14, and Blanket, 14—still have a long way to go before they will be receiving a part of their inheritance.
Yahoo News reported that one source said, "On paper the kids are billionaires thanks to these massive sums." Although this statement might bring a sigh of relief to all Michael Jackson fans, the second statement may not elicit the same response, which was, "But the truth is those sums will barely be in their accounts for any time as they have this huge tax bill to settle."
The Internal Revenue Service has not been bashful when it comes to demanding taxes from Jackson's estate. This accumulation of taxes, plus charges for late payments will slash the children's inheritance by more than half. In addition, the personal debts of the legendary singer will only worsen the deductions from the inheritance.
According to Metro, the taxes owed originally by Jackson's estate have been increased by £70 million due to the recent sale of the star's shares in Sony/ATV Music Publishing. The shares were sold for £526 million, and such amount becomes part of the singer's estate. Although Jackson's estate sought to challenge the huge figure, there was still no denying that the sale only increased the amount of taxes that the estate owed.
Aside from the staggering tax dues and debts, disturbing news also surfaced regarding the "Gone With the Wind" Oscar that the singer purchased for $1.54 million in 1999. The statuette is nowhere to be found at the moment. The lawyer handling the estate proceedings said that, "We would like to have that Oscar because it belongs to Michael's children. I'm hopeful it will turn up at some point."
There is a high probability that Michael Jackson's estate will contest the tax and debt figures. Suffice to say, in the event the court will rule in favor of the authorities and the creditors, Jackson's children might not receive anything out of the £900 million inheritance. Aside from these, does Jackson have more debts we didn't know of? Share them below.
