Some stars are known for their summer blockbusters and Oscar-winning performances, but if you look more closely some of these famous stars are also notorious for their tax troubles with the IRS. One may even come to believe that there’s an obvious lack of communication between many celebrities and their accountants- so who’s making the big financial blunder which results into a tax evasion case?
Perhaps after receiving a hefty Hollywood paycheck, some stars would feign a bit of amnesia to duck the taxman. And just to name a few, here are some sneaky stars that have made headlines with their tax woes.
Nicolas Cage
We should blame the IRS for driving Nicolas Cage straight into career suicide. If you’ve seen the suckfest that is the Season of the Witch, Drive Angry,The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The Knowing and Bangkok Dangerous – then you know what I’m talking about! The Oscar award-winning actor has been taking any money-making role thrown his way just to get rid of his debts and tax problems.
Sean Connery and Val Kilmer
Not all Hollywood tax troubles stem from undeclared income, the biggest Achilles heel for most Hollywood celebs are their sprawling properties- ranches, mansions, villas, chateaus, castles, islands- all of which are subject to property and state taxes.
As for Sean Connery, he owes $2 million in taxes on one of his Spanish properties while Val Kilmer has a $500,000 lien on his New Mexico ranch.
Lindsay Lohan
Lilo is just too out of her mind most of the time to even noticed she has a $93,000 tax lien in federal income taxes.
Lionel Richie
If the IRS came poking around his Beverly Hills manse I would expected Lionel richie to croon out, “Hello, is it me you’re looking for?” instead he has this to say about his enormous back tax lien. “I was recently made aware of the situation by my new team, and it’s being handled immediately.” This would be the usual cop-out most celebs would go for. Most would never admit to not paying their taxes unless they were caught redhanded. And this Commodore has $1.1 million in unpaid taxes.
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes is truly one bad-ass action star and like his killer role in Demolition man, Snipes was sentence to jail though not for murder, but for failing to file income tax returns. Snipes’ case has proven to be very controversial, the actor felt disproportionately targeted by the IRS because of his race, celebrity and wealth. There are other celebs with huge tax liens that have not been dragged out to court and sentenced to jail time like Wesley Snipes. The ‘Blade’ star claims he has been on the receiving end of ‘bad tax advice’. The IRS is making an example of Snipes, his harsh sentence now comes as a message for all celeb tax cheats.
Most stars don’t want to be bothered about taxes until they’re forced to show up for a court date. Celebrities should at least get a legit tax attorney to avoid any face time with the IRS. Hollywood big shot or not, stars should be more aware about the state of their taxes, and if they could check their books from time to time such tax nightmares could have been avoided.
