Top Ten Tax Troubled Celebs

Just in time for tax day, a look at some of the celebrities who have had their own share of tax problems…

1. Gordon Ramsay – In 2006, this celebrity chef gets his food out on time, but his company doesn’t pay its taxes with the same speed. He was fined 450 pounds by the British Government for missing their filing deadlines. At the time, a rep for Ramsay said they had already submitted the accounts and blamed the delay on ‘a housekeeping issue’.

2. Buster Keaton – This famous Silent Film era actor had a major fall in 1928 when he switched studios. He lost creative control of his movies and he started down the road of alcoholism. The IRS sued him for $28,000 in back taxes and he was committed to a sanitarium. Keaton eventually got his drinking problem under control, but his career was never the same.

3. Richard Hatch – – For someone who was so smart at the game of ‘Survivor’, its first winner made what is arguably a stupid move. Richard Hatch failed to report his $1 million publicly won prize in 2000 to the IRS. He is currently incarcerated for this crime and is set to be released in October 2009.

4. Annie Lebovitz – She may be one of the most celebrated pop culture photographers of our time, but last November, she was accused of owing $135,916 in back taxes to the state of New York according to The New York Post. Perhaps she should have sold Demi Moore’s clothes that never made it into one of her most infamous photos.

5. Judy Garland – In 1964 the once superstar’s unsuccessful variety show, ‘The Judy Garland Show,’ was canceled. To add fuel to her depression, she owed $4 million in back taxes to the IRS, so they repossessed her home.

6. Marc Anthony – In 2007, Mr. Jennifer Lopez was ordered to pay about $2.5 million in back taxes. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said Anthony failed to file returns from 2000 – 2004, a period when he earned $15.5 million. Anthony was never charged with a crime, but two of his associates pleaded guilty to tax felonies.

7. Wesley Snipes – Earlier this year, the ‘Blade’ actor was acquitted of federal tax fraud and conspiracy, but was found guilty on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return. He had faced up to 16 years in prison. According to the Prosecutor, from 1999 – 2004, he had signed two contracts for more than $10 million that he failed to file for.

8. Willie Nelson – In 1990, the IRS billed Nelson for $16.7 million in back taxes. He wrote and recorded albums and sold his assets to pay them back. He was caught up by 1993, but he will not shake this on his epitaph, as this was big news at the time.

9. Joe Francis – In April 2007, Joe Francis and his companies were indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of tax evasion. The 35-year-old Francis has built a soft porn empire filming and marketing videos of young women exposing their breasts and being shown in other sexually provocative situations. Federal prosecutors allege the companies claimed more than $20 million in phony deductions in those years, and that Francis used offshore accounts to conceal income.

10. Damon Dash – In 2007, the $50 million music mogul was handed a bill for more than $2 million by the state of New York according to The New York Post. In other news, Dash apparently has over 1,000 pairs of sneakers.