From the category archives:

taxes of the rich and (in)famous

Hollywood’s Tax Bill

6 February 2010

Vanity Fair has released its list of the top 40 Hollywood earners in 2009. CNN has the entire list but here’s a peek at the top 10:

Michael Bay, producer-director ($125 million)
Steven Spielberg, producer-director ($85 million)
Roland Emmerich, producer-director ($70 million)
James Cameron, producer-director ($50 million)
Todd Phillips, director ($44 million) – no relation, sadly
Daniel Radcliffe, actor ($41 million)
Ben [...]

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Tax Trivia: Al Capone

31 January 2010

Update: We have a winner! It’s Marc! For the answer, see the comments!
It’s our last tax trivia question for the giveaway! Thanks to CCH Complete Tax for the free software!

For the chance to win the last prize, answer the following question:
Everybody knows that the feds finally got Al Capone for tax evasion. He was [...]

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Nicolas Cage Refers to Financial Situation as “Catastrophic”

16 January 2010

If People magazine is to be believed, Nicolas Cage’s tax woes just doubled. The entertainment web site is reporting that another federal lien has been filed against Cage to the tune of $6,712,821.99 in unpaid taxes for 2008. This brings Cage’s total federal tax liens to $13,330,372.83.
To put that into perspective, let’s assume that the [...]

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UBS Informant Must Report to Prison On Time

6 January 2010

A federal judge has declined Bradley Birkenfeld’s request for leniency. Birkenfeld must report to prison on Friday, January 8, as scheduled, to serve his 40-month prison term.
Birkenfeld pleaded guilty last year to helping many of his clients, including billionaire Igor Olenicoff, evade taxes. Olenicoff pleaded guilty in 2007 to filing a false tax [...]

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Lawyers Don’t Get Free Ride

21 December 2009

Two lawyers had their licenses suspended last week for a failing to pay taxes. The two had been under investigation since last year.
The lawyers, John J.P. Howley, the former head of pro bono at Kaye Scholer, and Ronald A. Goldman, a partner at Manning Raab Dealy & Sturm, had previously pleaded guilty to the [...]

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Lights, Cameras, Plea Agreement!

14 December 2009

It sounds like something right out of Hollywood: a lawyer takes a kickback in exchange for setting up wealthy clients in a multi-billion dollar tax loss-generating scheme. He then applies for a false passport using an assumed name – which passport is found, along with crystal meth, date-rape drugs and horse tranquilizers, inside [...]

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Lesson Learned: Even Madams Pay Their Taxes

11 December 2009

For the most part, I’ve tried to avoid blogging the Tiger Woods scandal. I mean, you can pretty much turn on any channel at any time and hear all about it. And, except for the potential prenup/divorce issues, it has zippo to do with tax. And this is a tax blog. [...]

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Pamela Anderson hit with a pair of tax liens

7 December 2009

In case you’ve been in Baywatch withdrawal:

Pamela Anderson hit with a pair of tax liens
I’m fairly sure that the Hof would be devastated.
(Note: Good grief, it was hard to find a safe for work photo for this post!)

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Taking Tiger By the Tax Tale

6 December 2009

I don’t play golf. Despite growing up in a town with no actual supermarket for years – and yet, three golf courses – I never really moved beyond mini golf.
My father-in-law and my husband, however, like to play golf. I won’t speculate on how well they do – but I will note that [...]

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White House Party Crashers Forgot Invites… And Tax Returns

30 November 2009

I start the week off with an apology: I have missed many of your collective parties, happy hours and other social occasions. I was under the impression that I needed to be invited to these events in order to attend. Thank goodness for Tareq and Michaele Salahi, to set me straight.

The Salahis [...]

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