1).        Ja Rule. If you are like me, you may not know who Ja Rule is. He is a Rapper and an Actor and he pled guilty to tax evasion last year in New Jersey Federal Court. He admitted that he did not pay taxes in 2004, 2005, and 2006. He now owes the IRS over $1 million dollars in back taxes and penalties and was sentenced to two years in prison.

 

2).        Willy Nelson. Everybody knows Willy is a bit of a rebel. The IRS ceased his property claiming that he owes over $16 million dollars in back taxes. He actually reached a settlement with the government to pay $6 million dollars, but then he could not come up with the cash. When that happened, the government grabbed six of his houses and sent them to auction. He did hide his guitar from the IRS.

 

3).        Martin Scorsese. If you owed the IRS you are in good company. Most folks know he is an Academy Award Winning Director. What you may not know is that last year the IRS hit him with a $2.85 million dollar lien. It appears he has actually paid the tax bill now and there is some evident that the tax problem came about because he was the victim of a (poncey) scheme.

 

4).        Wesley Snipes. In December of 2010, Wesley Snipes literally reported to a Federal prison to serve three years for failure to file Federal taxes. Mr. Snipes was convicted in 2008 for owing the government over $17 million dollars in back taxes.

 

5).        Richard Hatch. This is another one of those “celebrities” I have never heard of. Apparently, he was on the show Survivor. He won first place, which was a million dollars. This is one of those stories you could not even make up. This guy did not report the $1 million dollars in income. Even though, he won it on a television show watched by over 50 million people. So it was a pretty good guess the IRS knew he won it too. He was sentenced to jail and home confinement for more than three years. Believe it or not, that conviction was in January of 2006, he was then again busted in 2010 for failing to file his taxes.