When it comes to taxes, even music royalty doesn’t get a pass. Prince, born Prince Rogers Nelson, has been a fixture in the music business since the early 1980s (yes, my friends all had their “Purple Rain” album covers hanging in their lockers). His reign hasn’t been without controversy – from racy lyrics (remember “Darling Nikki”?) to “cheeky” pants at concerts to the use of several names to identify himself (including an unpronounceable symbol known as “The Love Symbol” and The Artist Formerly Known As Prince).
Now, he has another controversy to add to the list. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has indicated that Prince hasn’t complied with a summons which was issued by French tax authorities. The request was made over a year ago by the French authorities with respect to concerts the performer headlined in France for the tax years 2009 and 2010.
The singer has not yet responded to the summons and a petition has been filed to force him to comply. As a result, a hearing has been scheduled for October 18 (USA v. Nelson, 12-mc-00071, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota (Minneapolis).
While Prince/The Artist hasn’t issued a formal statement regarding the failure to appear, his business manager, Debra Whelan Johnson of Nigro Karlin Segal & Feldstein, LLP, has said about the matter:
We were unaware of this routine request for information until we learned of it in the press today. The IRS had incorrect information for service and left the notice at an address of record. Now that the matter has been brought to our attention, we will promptly respond and provide the requested information.
