Billionaire avoids US tax bill

A billionaire living in New Zealand has won a legal battle to avoid paying tens of millions of dollars in New York 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 US$26.7 million ($37 million) in city income taxes in 2000 and another US$21 million ($29 million) 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 state tax auditors did not conclusively prove their case.

Mr Robertson and his wife, Josie, this year gifted 15 major artworks - including two Picassos - to the Auckland Art Gallery.

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

Forbes magazine last September estimated Mr Robertson's wealth at US$2.2 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 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 Mr Robertson spent at his Central Park 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.

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

- NZPA