$10 Million a Day In Tax Exposure

The TaxProf blog has coverage and links about the case of the hedge fund manager Julian Robertson, who had an apartment in Manhattan and a house on Long Island. He tried to structure his life so as to avoid spending more than 183 days a year in New York City, because if he exceeded that day count, all his earnings would be subject to New York City income tax. For the tax year 2000, the New York tax authorities tried to say he was in New York City on four days that he says he wasn't in New York City. An audit that began on May 17, 2002 was resolved in an October 15, 2009 ruling that saved Mr. Robertson $26.7 million in taxes and $21 million in interest. Had he spent those four days in New York, they would have been some pretty expensive days, tax-wise. The court documents tell the tale of the lengths that the government went to try to prove that Mr. Robertson was in New York on those four days, taking testimony from his secretaries and household staff, and even issuing subpoenas for his home phone records with letters asking the telephone companies not to inform Mr. Robertson that the records had been requested. The government may have failed in its effort to collect more taxes from Mr. Robertson, but if the goal is to discourage high-income individuals from spending more than half of their time in New York City, the tax rates in place seem to be succeeding.