Partners of private equity firm Blackstone Group may have devised a way to avoid paying
tax on $3.7 billion raised largely in the firm's initial public offering last month, the New York Times reported on Friday.
Blackstone partners may recoup $553 million in tax payments, and some $200 million more over the long term, the Times reported, without explaining how it arrived at those calculations.
Congress is currently weighing whether to raise taxes on the profits made by private equity and hedge fund firms, which would more than double the tax rate from 15% to 35%.
The Times said Blackstone's tax move hinged on its use of goodwill, an accounting term for the value of the intangible assets built up by a company over time.
Under the plan, partners paid a 15% capital gains rate on the shares they sold last month in the IPO, the Times said. However, Blackstone then arranged to get deductions for itself for $3.7 billion worth of goodwill at a 35% rate, in deductions that must be spread out over 15 years.