IRS claims Aretha Franklin's estate owes $6 million in back taxes

Estate being audited

DETROIT – The Internal Revenue Service is auditing Aretha Franklin's estate.

The government claims Franklin owes more than $6 million in back taxes going back to 2012. An attorney representing the estate said that at least $3 million in back taxes has been paid to the IRS since Franklin's death.

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David Bennett, who represents Franklin's estate, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the estate is being audited by the IRS, which he says filed a claim this month in a county probate court north of Detroit.

"We have a tax attorney. All of her returns have been filed," Bennett told the AP. "We have disputes with the IRS regarding what they claim was income. We claim it's double-dipping income because they don't understand how the business works."

Franklin died in August at the age of 76. At the time of her death, she owned a home in Bloomfield Township, according to the AP.


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Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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