Christy Pinheiro EA

Billionaire Julian Robertson just won a huge tax case that saved him 27 million dollars, by having an assistant actually track his days in the city. According to Forbes, the billionaire told his assistant to "track his days and warn him when he was using up days too quickly or nearing the 183-day limit."

The huge tax sum hinged on the clarification of just two days. The city argued that Robertson had actually exceeded the 183 day limit.

In 2005, city auditors got records, under subpoena, from his air charter company, showing his flight from Ireland landed at 1:30 A.M. July 24th. But a year later, the charter company clarified that the landing was at 1:30 A.M.  Greenwich Mean Time (a.k.a. Zulu Time) —so Robertson’s party had actually landed at LaGuardia at 9:30 P.M. July 23rd.

So the auditors actually took the time and trouble to argue this case all the way up to the New York State Tax Appeals Tribunal. Robertson won, and it was a coup for billionaires and millionaires everywhere who wish to avoid paying taxes by playing on razor-thin margins of residency.

I've got to hand it to his tax attorneys! That must have been one heck of a case to argue.