Tax Refunds & Advice

Actor Wesley Snipes is going to be away from the big screen for quite some time. At the end of April, Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison for failing to file tax returns. Although he came up with a $5 million down payment on back taxes that he owes, the court was still unkind. In fact, he received the maximum amount of jail time requested by prosecutors. As you can see, he was not cut any slack because of his name or celebrity status. Many believe that this may have worked against Snipes as a way of showing the general public that everybody has to pay taxes.

Prosecutor Robert O’Neill said, “The courts sent a really clear message that Americans must file and pay taxes. If you have a legitimate dispute with the IRS, contact the IRS and dispute what you believe you’re due and owe. You can’t just totally fail to satisfy your legal obligation like Mr. Snipes did.”

Snipes’ trial began in January 2008 for his failure to file income tax returns between the years of 1999 and 2004. During this time, he earned approximately $38 million. To go along with this, prosecutors argued that he lied on his 1996 and 1997 returns by filling for $11 million in refunds.

Although Snipes will be spending three years in jail, this does not mean that his tax debt gets wiped out. He will still owe the IRS millions of dollars in back taxes, as well as interest and penalties.

As you can see, nobody is above the law when it comes to paying taxes. Wesley Snipes learned this lesson the hard way, and hopefully this will show Americans that filing on time is of utmost importance.

If you are following the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, you are well aware that contender Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill have been in the forefront for quite some time. As if there was not already enough information to take in, the Clinton’s tax data was made public last week, and there are a few details that are quite interesting.

Over the last eight years, the two have combined to earn approximately $109 million. This is a huge turnaround from the day that they left the White House in 2001 with tons of debt thanks to mounting legal bills.

Where did all of this money come from? The data shows that approximately $92 million is from speaking and book deals. In 2004, Bill Clinton’s autobiography, My Life, brought in a $15 million advance. To go along with this, the former president is regularly paid in excess of $250,000 for speaking engagements.

During this time frame, the Clintons paid almost $34 million in federal taxes. Luckily for them, they were able to deduct $10.2 million thanks to a rash of charitable contributions.

Jay Carson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said, “The Clintons have now made public 30 years of tax returns, a record matched by few people in public service. None of Hillary Clinton’s presidential opponents have revealed anything close to this amount of personal financial information.”

As you can see, the Clintons are not struggling to stay afloat financially. Not only are they earning tens of millions of dollars per year, but they are giving away quite a bit to charity. With this tax data now available to the public, it will be interesting to see if other presidential hopefuls follow suit with more detailed information of their past earnings.

Just because you are a movie star who makes a lot of money, it does not mean that you can get away with not paying taxes. Apparently, this is something that Wesley Snipes forgot between the years of 1999 and 2004. Snipes has been accused of failing to pay taxes on $58 million of income that he earned during this time period. If convicted, he faces a prison term of up to 16 years.

Believe it or not, the Snipes case is one of the biggest in the history of the US tax service. Snipes, as well as two co-defendants, deny the eight charges that have been brought against them.

The one twist in this case is that Snipes’ lawyers have admitted that he was wrong. But with that being said, the lawyers have also stated that Snipes should only have to pay the money back. In other words, there is no need for a trial as attempted fraud was never his intention.

The prosecutor in the case, M. Scotland Morris said, “”Nobody likes paying taxes, but paying taxes is the price we pay to live in a civilized society.”

The jury in this case consists of five men and seven women. They have heard both sides of the case, and must now decide whether or not Snipes is guilty.

Within the next few days, Snipes will find out what his future holds. It will be interesting to see how the jury deciphers all of the information that has been presented. Stay tuned for the verdict!