NZ based billionaire wins US tax case

A billionaire living in New Zealand has won a legal battle to avoid paying tens of millions of dollars in New York city taxes.

A New York state administrative law judge has decided that billionaire Julian Robertson did not spend enough days in New York City to be liable for $US26.7 million ($NZ37.1m) in city income taxes in 2000 and another $US21m (NZ29.1m) in interest for that year alone.

State tax auditors had tried to show that the financier crossed the threshold of 183 days as a New York city resident, the New York Law Journal reported.

But Dennis Galliher, a judge with the Division of Tax Appeals, concluded that state tax auditors did not conclusively prove their case that Mr Robertson was a New York City resident for purposes of personal income tax.

Mr Robertson and his wife Josie earlier this year gifted 15 major artworks - including two Picassos - to the Auckland Art Gallery. The $NZ200m donation also included significant paintings by Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin and Piet Mondrian dating from the late 19th to mid 20th centuries.

The Robertsons said at the time: "We have had a lifelong love affair with New Zealand. We love Auckland".

Forbes magazine last September 9 estimated Mr Robertson's wealth at $US2.2 billion. He co-founded Tiger Management LLC - the world's largest hedge fund - but has pursued a second career in New Zealand, developing the Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers golf resorts and the iconic Te Awa and Dry River wineries.

In 2000, Mr Robertson was chairman of Tiger Management, but Mr Galliher said the city failed to prove he was a "statutory" resident of New York for 183 days in a calendar year, which would have made him subject to city personal income taxes.

At issue in the tax case was how many days Robertson spent at his Central Park South apartment - the couple also spent time at their estate in Locust Valley, Long Island; at their home in the Hamptons at the east end of Long Island; in Sun Valley, Idaho; in Australia; New Zealand; and other locations overseas.

They claimed the billionaire was mistaken about four days when his records showed him out of the city, but Mr Galliher disagreed - the Robertsons were outside New York City on all four disputed days .

The Department of Taxation and Finance has 30 days to appeal Mr Galliher's ruling to the Division of Tax Appeals.

NZPA