Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Celebrity Tax Lore
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Who Should Get Jack Abramoff’s Tax Refund?
In today's Blog of the Legal Times: Dividing Up Abramoff's Tax Refund: Imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff is hoping for another big refund from the Internal Revenue Service. This time, though, his family wouldn't get to decide alone how to spend it. Abramoff's lead attorney Abbe Lowell said in a hearing this morning that Abramoff…
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More Celebrity Tax Woes
The Detroit News has several new additions to its list of celebrities with tax woes: Val Kilmer (actor): IRS $538,858 tax lien M.C. Hammer (rapper): IRS $625,792 tax lien, California $45,390 tax lien Robert Huizenga (celebrity weight loss doctor (The Biggest Loser, Dance Your Ass Off)): California $1,080,660 lien Conrad Murray (Michael Jackson's personal physician): California $21,728 tax lien
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Judge Orders Sale of Creation Science Theme Park to Pay Evangelist’s Tax Debts
I previously blogged (here and here) the criminal tax conviction of Kent Hovind, the self-styled Dr. Dino of Creation Science Evangelism and owner of Dinosaur Adventure Land Theme Park, Science Center, and Museum. Press reports say that U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers has ordered the sale of the Pensacola, Florida theme park to satisfy his tax debts.
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Former IRS Commissioner Mark Emerson Joins alliantgroup
Former (2003-2007) IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson today agreed to serve as Vice Chairman for alliantgroup, a leading provider of tax services to small, medium, and large businesses. In the role of Vice Chairman, Everson will advise alliantgroup on strategic, operational, and client service initiatives. (Everson previously served as President and CEO of the American Red Cross…
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Nicolas Cage, IRS Face Off Over $6.3m Tax Bill
I previously blogged (here and here) actor Nicolas Cage's $666,000 tax settlement with the IRS for the 2002-2004 tax years. The IRS now has filed a tax lien against Mr. Cage to collect $6.3 million for 2007: Houston Chronicle National Ledger New York Daily News Web CPA
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Why Dwayne Wade Won’t Sign With the Chicago Bulls: State Taxes
Taxing Dilemma for NBA’s 2010 Free Agents, by Sam Smith: With increasing taxes geared to the wealthy and the Bush tax cuts also coming off the books, it may be that the low tax states like Florida and Texas begin to have a big advantage over higher tax states when it comes to NBA free…
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More Celebrity Tax Woes
The Detroit News recounts current tax troubles of various celebrities: Steve Austin (former wrestler): California $22k tax lien David Brenner (comedian): IRS $68k tax lien P. Diddy (rapper): IRS $7k tax lien Anna Kournikova (tennis player): California $6k tax lien Lea Thompson (actress): California $9k tax lien Chris Tucker (actor): California $3.6 million tax lien
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Henry Louis Gates’ Tax Problem
From Inside Higher Ed: A foundation created and led by Henry Louis Gates Jr. is amending its federal tax form after questions were raised about $11,000 paid to foundation officers — funds that the original tax form called research grants, but that should have been classified as compensation, ProPublica reported. When the payments are accounted…
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IRS Burns Kirk Herbstreit’s Donation of Home to Fire Department
It is increasingly common for wealthy people to buy an existing home in a desirable neighborhood and immediately tear it down and build a larger "McMansion" on the property. But did you know that it may be possible to get a tax deduction for the value of the existing home by donating it to the local…
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Stephen Baldwin’s Tax Troubles
Add actor Stephen Baldwin to the large and growing list of celebrity tax scofflaws. He has filed for bankruptcy, listing over $1 million in federal and state tax liabilities. ABC News Don't Mess With Taxes Huffington Post Reuters TMZ Wall Street Journal Web CPA
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Tax Evasion
The American Lawyer: Indicted Lawyer Slaps Haim Saban With Sensational Civil Suit, by Brian Baxter: A civil suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday reads like a script for a big screen Hollywood legal thriller. It's a case of the truth being stranger — and far more complicated — than fiction. Hollywood tax lawyer…
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Tom Watson’s Lessons For Tax Lawyers (and Professors)
What Tom Watson Teaches Us About Business and Practicing Law, by John L. Watkins: [M]ost athletes have very limited time in which they can play their game or sport at its highest levels. Fortunately, this is not true for most people in business, and it is certainly not true in practicing law. Watson has reminded…
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Just Tax
This Just Tax music video (riffing Lady Gaga's Just Dance) was unveiled at today's weekly GOP conference meeting): CNN Perez Hilton Talking Points Memo TaxGirl
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Moneyball Lives!
Following up on my prior post, Moneyball: The Movie: Sony Corp. has revived the Brad Pitt baseball film “Moneyball” after hiring “The West Wing” writer and producer Aaron Sorkin to rework the script, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Pitt remains committed to the movie, based on Michael Lewis’s book about Billy…
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Michael Jackson’s Estate May Owe $80m to IRS
Associated Press: Death and Taxes: Big IRS Bill Looms for MJ Estate, by Stevenson Jacobs: Creditors and heirs of Michael Jackson hoping for a cut of his musical empire will have to line up with the Internal Revenue Service, which could lay claim to $80 million or more in federal estate taxes. To settle his…
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More on the Deductibility of Michael Jackson’s Funeral Expenses
Following up on Thursday's post, Deductibility of Michael Jackson's Funeral Expenses, we note in the new edition of our casebook, Federal Wealth Transfer Taxation 505 (Foundation Press, 6th ed. 2009): In Estate of Davenport v. Commissioner, 92 T.C.M. 324 (2006), the Tax Court disallowed a claimed $3,639 deduction for a “funeral luncheon”: “[T]he record is…
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The Pope on Taxes
Pope Benedict XVI has released his encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, which focuses on the current economic crisis and includes this tax policy proposal: One possible approach to development aid would be to apply effectively what is known as fiscal subsidiarity, allowing citizens to decide how to allocate a portion of the taxes they pay to…
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Tax Protesters Ed and Elaine Brown Are Convicted on All Counts
I previously blogged (here, here, here, here, and here) the case of tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown who, after being convicted of evading $1.9 million in taxes on her dental practice, holed up in their New Hampshire mountaintop home for months, vowing to die fighting rather than surrender. The Associated Press reports that they were convicted yesterday on weapons charges…
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Deductibility of Michael Jackson’s Funeral Expenses
David Shulman (via the Tax Girl) asks Are Michael Jackson's Funeral Costs Deductible for Estate Tax Purposes? His answer: Everything involved with the funeral (not the public memorial but the private funeral) itself, no matter how extravagant or expensive will be allowed as a deduction. Everything involved with purchasing and maintaining the burial site itself should…
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Michael as Elvis: Post-Death Exploitation of Jackson’s Name Will Create “Money-Making Machine” to Pay Off Hefty Estate Tax Bill
I previously blogged some of the estate tax issues to be faced by Michael Jackson's estate: Michael Jackson's Looming "Estate Tax Disaster" Settling Michael Jackson's Estate May Be a Thriller for the Lawyers I also previously made available a copy of Jackson's will, which provides that all of his assets pour over to the Michael Jackson…
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The Mailbox Rule: Tax, Baseball & Hockey
The tax version of the mailbox rule occasinally rears its head in cases (e.g., Trout v. Commissioner, 131 T.C. No. 16 (Dec. 16, 2008)) and articles (e.g.,Burgess J.W. Raby & William L. Raby, Abolishing the Mailbox Rule for Tax Documents, 105 Tax Notes 193 (Oct. 11, 2004). One of the traumatic experiences of my youth…
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Michael Jackson’s Will
The five-page Michael Jackson will is available here and here. For commentary on the will, see: ABC News CNN New York Daily News New York Times Rolling Stone USA Today Wall Street Journal
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Michael Jackson’s Looming “Estate Tax Disaster”
In a previous article, Estate Planning Implications of the Right of Publicity, 68 Tax Notes 95 (1995), I warned that celebrities (and their counsel) must carefully plan their estates in light of the inclusion of the value of rights of publicity for estate tax purposes under § 2033. In the Conclusion, reprinted below the fold, I contrasted the different…
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Settling Michael Jackson’s Estate May Be a Thriller for the Lawyers
Business Week: Settling Michael Jackson's Estate May Be a Thriller, by Christopher Palmeri: The King of Pop will likely leave behind one royal estate battle. Michael Jackson, the onetime child star whose string of hit songs got people boogying from Boise to Bahrain, died suddenly on June 25 after being rushed to UCLA Medical Center in…