And here I thought my days of reporting on Joe Francis were over…
It turns out that the Girls Gone Wild founder hasn’t quite put his tax woes behind him. After taking a deal to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of filing false tax returns – and escaping additional jail time in the process – Francis has found himself in the hot seat again.
If you believe TMZ, the IRS has liened Francis for nearly $34 million. To clarify, the IRS claims that Francis owes tens of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes. The breakdown is as follows: $17.7 million in 2001, $11.2 million in 2002 and $4.9 million in 2003. I’m not sure how much the penalties are since I haven’t seen the actual liens but those numbers put his net income somewhere close to $100 million for those three years.
I know, I know. Here I’ve blogging tax all this time when clearly, I should be producing porn.
On the plus side, though, I haven’t had to advise TMZ that my accounts have been frozen by the IRS to the tune of $100 million (no, those numbers don’t quite make sense – just reporting as I hear it). Francis has also allegedly reported that he will file for personal bankruptcy on tomorrow.
I’m not sure how this will affect Francis’ plea deal which requires him to resolve his outstanding tax issues. I mean, it is a resolution – but I’m guessing not so much what IRS had in mind. We’ll see.
(Editor’s note: I have since seen a copy of the liens as filed with LA County. As of 11/06/2009, the liens totaled $33,819,088.14)
The woman who claims that she “never hated a man enough to give him diamonds back” may have to change her mind when it comes to Bernie Madoff. Zsa Zsa Gabor claims to have lost between $7-$10 million as part of Madoff’s scheme, leaving her with some substantial tax woes.
The 92 year old actress has been liened by the Internal Revenue Service for $118,000 for the years 2001 and 2002; the lien has been filed against one of Gabor’s mansions in California. Gabor’s lawyer, Chris Fields, says that the tax bill is part of the fallout from the Madoff scheme.
Gabor’s husband (from her longest marriage – so far) German playboy Frederic von Anhalt intends to help Gabor work out a payment plan with the IRS. Anhalt has reportedly received millions of dollars by selling the Anhalt name by adopting, along with Zsa Zsa, several men. If that sounds a little bit crazy, remember that this is the same man that claimed to be the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby (yeah, that’s where you’ve heard the name before). Crazy is relative.
“Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis feels he finally got a break when a federal judge okayed a deal that Francis struck with prosecutors. Under the agreement, Francis was credited with 301 days already served and sentenced to one year of probation.
The plea deal was struck after Francis learned that a key witness, Francis’ former accountant, had withheld information from his defense team at trial. Francis was originally indicted on tax evasion charges in 2007 stemming from a number of income omissions and false deductions. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of filing false tax returns and one count of bribing Nevada jail workers.
“I think we won that one,” Francis said after the hearing.
The former bad boy was polite during the hearing, answering questions as asked. It was quite a turn-around from the belligerent persona he had maintained since the charges were first brought against him in 2007.
After the hearing, he kissed his mother.
Apparently he really does kiss his mother with that mouth.
When Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson reviewed the electric sports car Tesla Roadster, he had plenty to say. Notably, he complained about the price, which was at the time of filming in the UK, £92,000 (about $150,962.40 US). Lucky for all of you prospective Tesla Roadster buyers, the price has dropped to a mere $109,000. And if you moved to Colorado, you could get your hands on it for a mere fraction of the price.
Colorado? Yeah, you read that right. Colorado is offering a 38% tax credit on the Roadster through the end of the year. That brings the total cost of the Roadster to about $65,000.
It’s not just the Tesla that can take advantage of the credit. It applies to your run of the mill Prius, too. In fact, Colorado is ahead of the pack when it comes to providing tax breaks for hybrid and zero-emission vehicles. The state has been doing it for years.
But it’s the size of the Tesla refund that is attracting attention.
Bowing to pressure from overextended taxpayers, state lawmakers passed a bill which would cap such refunds at $6,000. The bill, however, doesn’t take effect until next year. That means that there’s still plenty of time to take advantage of the refund this year.
Though state lawmakers didn’t expect to see more than 10 Tesla refunds, one Tesla dealership has reported selling six cars this week alone. That’s about $252,000 in refunds in one week. That’s not a pace that taxpayers are happy to see when faced with a $320 million deficit in the state budget.
Of course, there are some restrictions on the refund. For one, to qualify, the vehicle must be titled and registered in Colorado. And the credit is only available in the year that the car was purchased.
However, since it’s a tax credit (and not a flat out dollars back refund), there is a chance that the amount of the credit could exceed a taxpayer’s net tax liability for the year. If that happens, any excess credit may be carried forward and claimed on future year returns for up to five years.
So, it may not turn out be the kind of hit that taxpayers fear. That still doesn’t make taxpayers feel better about what’s perceived as an irresponsible tax policy. The amount of the refund alone, it has been noted, is more than many taxpayers will pay for the total cost of their car. In a tight economy, this isn’t the kind of thing that sits well with many folks.
What do you think? Fair game or bad policy?
And if you’re interested, you can watch the controversial “Top Gear” review of the Tesla Roadster here:
(In case you missed the scandal, the BBC later admitted that the scene of the car being pushed into the garage was not a result of the alleged 55 mile fail.)
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Hatch walked out of jail this morning, about 6 a.m.
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