Tiësto wins €17 million lawsuit against law firm over incorrect tax advice

Tiësto will receive €17 million from American law firm Greenberg Traurig after the firm provided incorrect tax advice to the Breda-born DJ. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled in his favour on appeal this Tuesday. The law firm must also cover the legal costs, totalling nearly €35,000.

Notably, the case dates back to 2012. Tiësto had spent more than a certain day-limit in the United States that year. He should therefore have paid more taxes as a U.S. tax resident. However, a tax specialist from Greenberg Traurig incorrectly informed him on the matter.

Then the consequences caught up. Tiësto’s tax returns were initially filed incorrectly because of the wrong advice. When he discovered the error in 2018, he asked the U.S. tax authorities to correct the filings. He then had to pay additional taxes and a penalty as a result.

In 2024, Tijs Verwest first attempted to hold the originally American company, which also has an office in Amsterdam, liable for the amount he had to pay to the U.S. tax authorities. At the time, the court acknowledged that Verwest had received incorrect advice. Still, the court ruled that he had not suffered damages as a result.

The Court of Appeal has now reversed that ruling. The appeal court considers it plausible that Verwest would have made a different decision had he been properly informed in time about the consequences of U.S. tax residency. The judgment closes a chapter that has run for over a decade between the Breda-born DJ and his former tax advisors.