P.M. BRIEFING : Newhouse Heirs Win Tax Battle

WASHINGTON — The family of the late publishing magnate Samuel I. Newhouse won a victory over the Internal Revenue Service in one of the largest tax disputes in U.S. history.

The U.S. Tax Court accepted the family’s valuation of Newhouse’s newspaper and magazine holdings and turned down IRS efforts to collect an additional $609.5 million in estate taxes. Tax lawyers say they cannot recall a larger case involving individual taxes.

The only issue in the protracted case was the value of stock Newhouse had owned in the closely held Advance Publications Inc., which owns several newspapers and magazines, and in Newhouse Broadcasting Co.

His sons, S. I. Newhouse Jr. and Donald E. Newhouse, who are executors of the estate, valued the Advance stock at about $179 million and the broadcasting shares at $68.3 million. The IRS placed a combined value of $1.32 billion on the stock.