It has been quite an eventful month for Casey Anthony. The 25 year old Florida woman faced prosecutors in court for the first time this month on charges of first-degree murder in connection with the 2008 death of her daughter, Caylee. Caylee was reported missing to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on July 15, 2008, by her grandmother, Cynthia Anthony. Prosecutors allege that Casey killed Caylee because the little girl was complicating her dating and social life, while the defense alleges that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool.
Just days before opening arguments in Anthony’s murder trial, the IRS filed a federal tax lien against Casey, claiming she owes $68,520.41 in unpaid federal income taxes, interest and penalties. The lien is for the same year, 2008, in which Caylee was allegedly murdered.
Casey Anthony was arrested three times between July 2008 and October 2008 on various charges ranging from forgery, fraudulent use of personal information, and petty theft. She was arrested a fourth time in October 2008, those charges related to the murder of her daughter. It is not clear whether Casey held a regular job at any point during that year although at one point, she had worked as a manager at a nightclub. An acquaintance testified at trial that Casey Anthony told her that she paid a nanny at least $400 per week for childcare, and one would assume that would be so that she could work. Of course, she would have had to have done quite well over the course of her employment that year to run up a tax bill of over $68,000. Under the circumstances, it isn’t likely that the income is solely attributed to wages.
It seems that Casey might be taking a page from former Survivor champion Richard Hatch’s playbook. A television network – in this case, ABC – had a deal with Anthony to pay $200,000 in exchange for family videos and photos. As we know from the Hatch case, this makes it taxable to the recipient. If the money was paid directly to Casey (or on her behalf), she would be responsible for reporting the money to the IRS and paying any related taxes due.
The deal was allegedly crafted with ABC by Anthony’s attorney with the understanding that the money was going to be used for defense costs. That would be a great deal for her defense attorney but unfortunately for Casey, attorney’s fees for personal reasons (and that would include criminal defense work for a homicide case) are not deductible on your federal income tax return.
Assuming a 33% tax rate for a single taxpayer in 2008, that $200,000 ABC payment would likely result in a tax bill approximating that $68,520.41 lien. That’s a little bit of educated speculation on my part and I can’t say for certain that the payment resulted in the lien though the evidence tends to suggest that it did. What is clear is that with Anthony’s freedom – and future – in limbo until after the trial, it’s likely that the IRS may never collect.
