Whitney Houston's estate reaches $2million settlement with IRS

Published: 15:49 GMT, 4 January 2018 | Updated: 17:32 GMT, 4 January 2018

e-mail

View
comments

Whitney Houston’s estate has reached a $2 million settlement with the Internal Revenue Service

Whitney Houston’s estate has reached a $2 million settlement with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The estate for the late musical icon - who passed away in February 2012 after drowning in her bathtub at a Beverly Hills hotel - was originally ordered to pay a whopping $11 million to the federal agency after it was claimed they had underreported the singer’s royalties, residuals and value of her image by $22.6 million following her death.

However, court documents filed last week and obtained by The Blast have revealed that the estate reached a settlement with the IRS where they agreed to pay the agency a total of $2,275,366.

It comes after Whitney’s estate claimed the IRS was wrong in their value determination, and alleged that her her music royalties, digital performance royalties, motion picture and TV residuals, and publicity rights - which they valued at $11.7 million - had been overvalued by the agency.

The parties were due to head to court to thrash out the details of their lawsuit next month, but since the case has now been handled outside of court, there is now no need for the scheduled hearing.

Meanwhile, the royalties from the I Will Always Love You hitmaker’s extensive collection of hits are set to keep increasing, as in November, previously unreleased tracks from the star were made public to mark the 25th anniversary of The Bodyguard.

Whitney's music from The Bodyguard is one of the top-selling soundtracks of all time

The collection, called Whitney Houston - I Wish You Love: More From The Bodyguard, featured a host of unheard pieces from the late singer's legendary career, and was released exactly 25 years after the release of The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album, which the I Wanna Dance With Somebody singer co-executive produced with Clive.

The Grammy Award-winning album was the first record to sell more than one million copies in a single week, and has sold more than 45 million across the world to date.

It's the top-selling soundtrack of all time - while The Bodyguard movie marked the star’s big screen debut - and it has gone on to become one of the best selling albums of all time.