Former Pistons Owner Bill Davidson's Estate Loses $388 Million in IRS Settlement

The Internal Revenue Service claimed $388 million from the estate of former Detroit Pistons and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Bill Davidson on Wednesday.

Forbes.com's Ashlea Ebeling reported the news and included the official United States Tax Court document that outlined the violations and required payments.

The culprits that accounted for the Davidson estate's tax deficiencies were improper valuations on self-canceling installment notes and corporate stocks.

Of the $388 million total, the most came from gift taxes at $187 million—which comes with a $133,000 tax penalty—followed by estate tax deficiencies of $152 million and generation-skipping taxes amounting to $49 million.

This case stretches back to two years ago, when the IRS asserted the estate had accrued $2 billion in tax deficiencies and the Davidson estate took the agency to court. The projection turned out to be far less than the still-considerable amount the IRS collected in Wednesday's settlement.

Davidson was born in Detroit and passed away in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, at age 86 in 2009. He was CEO of manufacturing giant Guardian Industries and also owned the WNBA's Detroit Shock.