IRS: Halas Estate Owes $26 Million

The Internal Revenue Service claims that the estate of the late George S. Halas, founder of the Chicago Bears, owes the government more than $26 million in back taxes and penalties.

The 10-month-old IRS claim was disclosed in a hearing about a 1981 corporate reorganization of the National Football League team.

The IRS contends that the 1981 reorganization put an artificially low value on the 49.35% of the team’s stock then held in the name of the senior Halas, who died Oct. 31, 1983.

As a result of the complex reorganization, the Halas estate ultimately paid tax on Halas’ stock based on a value of just more than $8 million.

Some tax experts have said that the move saved the estate about $15 million, but the IRS apparently contends that the estate’s part of the stock was undervalued by more than $31 million.

That would put the IRS’ estimate of the total value of the team in the early 1980s at about $80 million.