Don't Mess With Taxes

Lewis Hamilton was all hat and F1 2017 champion after he won the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin TX on Oct 29 2017. That was the race where the U.K. driver earned enough points to take another title. A few days later, Hamilton's name showed up in the Paradise Papers as one of the rich and famous individuals around the world who uses questionable tax shelters. (Photo courtesy Formula1.com) Formula 1's final race of the year was today in Abu Dhabi (no spoiler here unless you click the link), ending the 2017 season in which Lewis Hamilton claimed the motorsports'... Read more →

Honestly, rich people. You can afford to hire good tax advisers and accountants. Why don't you?!? That's the question I ask every time another celebrity gets in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service. Last week it was boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. Now the latest wealthy person who just can't get a grip on taxes is hip-hop icon DMX. Although rapper DMX seemed pretty composed after his court appearance last week on tax evasion charges, I suspect at some point this was his reaction to the federal charges. The 46-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Earl Simmons, is accused of 14... Read more →

Undefeated boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. is trying to avoid a knockout from the Internal Revenue Service. Mayweather still owes the federal tax collector a reported $22.s million for his 2015 taxes. That year, Mayweather reportedly earned as much as $230 million for besting Manny Pacquiao in the heavily promoted Fight of the Century. Floyd Mayweather's official weigh-in before his 2015 fight with Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas. Money earned on that match is at the center of an unpaid tax bill battle Mayweather's waging with the IRS. (Photo courtesy Pixabay via Wikimedia Commons) Rich, but tax cash poor: Mayweather... Read more →

If you follow celebrity news, you've already heard about the impending dissolution of the marriage of one of Hollywood's highest profile couples. Angelina Jolie is seeking a divorce from her husband of two years, Brad Pitt. Brangelina's divorce likely will be much more difficult than separating their Madame Tussaud wax representations. (Photo by Cliff via Flickr) I'll leave it to the internet and tabloids, both print on television versions, to hash out the exact sordid "irreconcilable differences" Jolie cited in her Sept. 19 filing in Los Angeles Superior Court. The couple, who share six children, was together for 12 years,... Read more →

Be still, my heart. Daveed Diggs talked about taxes! Diggs, one of the Tony-nominated stars of the Broadway smash "Hamilton," was on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last night. He of course talked about his dual roles as America's favorite fighting Frenchman Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Lin-Manuel Miranda's $10 Founding Father musical. Pre-Broadway jobs: However, just before getting the "Hamilton" parts, the accomplished rapper was at home in Los Angeles and was between gigs. To make ends meet, Diggs delivered catering "in my tore-up Honda Civic … mostly fajitas … at minimum wage, no less." When he got... Read more →

The estate planning world is stunned by the news that Prince passed away without a will. Prince performing at Coachella in 2008. Photo by Scott Penner CC BY-SA 3.0 via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons While lots of folks delay officially putting their final wishes on paper, the wealthiest among us, which definitely included The Purple One, tend to have a phalanx of advisers to take care of their money, including how it will be dealt with once they're gone. Such professional financial and tax advice is critical, especially if you have a lot of money and/or live in a state... Read more →

Happy Earth Day 2016. April 22 marks the anniversary of the birth in 1970 of the modern environmental movement. For farmers, however, every day is earth day, says Naomi Starkman, founder and editor in chief of Civil Eats, a news outlet that focuses on sustainable agriculture. "Farmers work every day to care for the Earth and steward the land that sustains us," writes Starkman in an opinion piece for MSNBC. Farmers like Donald J. Trump. Donald J. Trump's goat farm helps him get tax breaks on two New Jersey golf properties. Photo courtesy Columbia Economic Development Corporation, Columbia County, New... Read more →

The Donald sure knows how to sell, that's for sure. As part of Trump's just-released tax plan, in April some taxpayers won't owe the Internal Revenue Service a red cent. But they still will get to send in a form, one that simply says, "I win!" What person wouldn't welcome no taxes and an in-your-face message to the hated IRS? Well, some sane people who question whether, despite Trump's promises, that his repackaging of a trickle-down tax system will work might have their doubts. But The Donald hasn't ever let the haters-gonna-hate crowd stop him. Zero tax bracket: The no-tax... Read more →

You've got to give props to Italian tax officials for their persistence. Last fall, Italy's highest court overturned the tax evasion convictions of fashion icons Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, whose luxe label bears their surnames. That, however, has not deterred Italian tax collectors. Now they are going after high-end jewelers Paolo and Nicola Bulgari. The brothers, whose watches and bracelets adorn the wrists of the world's wealthy, are accused of tax evasion. An item from the new Bulgari, or BVLGARI in the trademarked classical Latin lettering that appears in their packaging and ads, line of Serpenti jewelry. Click image... Read more →

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, founders of the high-end Italian fashion label Dolce & Gabbana, are no longer convicted tax evaders. Italy's highest court on Oct. 24 overturned two lower court convictions that the duo had participated in what Italian prosecutors called a "sophisticated tax fraud" scheme. Dolce and Gabbana had been found guilty in April 2013 of using a Luxembourg holding company to avoid paying taxes of €200 million ($253.39 million U.S. as of this morning's exchange rate) on royalties for sales in 2004 and 2005. That sizable chunk -- I'm going with the more than $253 million U.S.... Read more →

Fashionistas are wrapping up a month of shows that have taken them from New York to London to Milan and now Paris. One big name designer, however, might not be paying as close attention as usual to the City of Light's catwalks this week. A couple of Prada executives have taxes instead of tailleur on their minds. A month of global fashion weeks, during which designers preview their coming spring and fall clothing lines, concludes this week in Paris. Click the image for a glimpse of what the rich and famous might be wearing in early 2015. Prada chairwoman Miuccia... Read more →

Count me among those who were around for the first Saturday Night Live, or SNL as it's known in this acronym age, show 39 years ago. Also count me among those who firmly believe the original cast (plus Bill Murray a few years later) and quality of their skits were the best ever. Tom Snyder interviews Lorne Michaels and the original SNL cast before the show's debut on Oct. 11, 1975. Don't worry. This isn't going to be a nostalgic geezer stroll down TV Land lane. Although I have fond memories of the original, I also happily acknowledge that some... Read more →

Thirty-seven years ago the musical world was in shocked mourning. Just a day earlier, Aug. 16, 1977, Elvis Aaron Presley had died. Many people can still tell you where they were on that Tuesday afternoon more than three decades ago when they got the news that the King was dead. I can't. I was probably in a class at Texas Tech University. But I wasn't then and am not now a big Elvis fan (despite what I've discovered is a surprising number of Elvis-related blog posts), so it doesn't stick in my memory. Still, I recognize his place in the... Read more →

Sad that Kimye's wedding is over? Me neither. But I am surprised that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West didn't milk their nuptials for even more attention. Yes, given all the pop culture magazines that line my grocery's checkout stands and the tabloid style television shows that fill too many hours, that would have been very possible. Now all we've got is the countdown of whether these vows last longer than Kim's last tying of the knot. At least celebrity romance addicts won't be left wanting for long. They now can focus on the upcoming "I do's" between George Clooney and... Read more →

Yeah, I watched the White House Correspondents Dinner last night. I admit it. As well as being a tax geek I'm an unashamed political wonk. You can't spend almost 20 years in Washington, D.C., and not have some of it stick with you even after you leave. And yeah, President Obama was pretty witty, although he still too often tends to be amused at his own jokes. As has come to be expected at the event, the president poked some self-deprecating fun at himself, mostly connected with the botched federal health care exchange opening. Obama also got off some decent... Read more →

Jimmy Fallon, the new host of NBC's iconic The Tonight Show, was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Saugerties, about 100 miles due north of New York City. After a brief stint on the West Coast, Fallon moved back to his birthplace, landed a job on Saturday Night Live and the rest, as the saying goes, is history. Live weeknights from New York: So it's no surprise that Fallon didn't want to leave the town so nice they named it twice when he got his shot at helming late-night television's most popular network program. NBC executives agreed with the... Read more →

It's that time of year again. Movie studios roll out some big productions in the hopes of generating ticket sales as well as Oscars buzz. Many movies nowadays are made in part with help from tax breaks. But a couple of states are looking more closely at how and how much taxpayer money they hand out to movie makers. Beyond New York, New York: Empire State Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week vetoed a bill that would have extended New York's supplemental film tax credit to 14 counties in the Hudson Valley and greater Albany, N.Y., area. The Democratic governor said... Read more →

Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have officially filed an appeal of their tax evasion conviction. Both men were sentenced in June to one year and eight months each in prison after being found guilty of contributing to tax declaration omissions in the 2004 sale of some of their clothing lines to Gado, a Luxembourg-based holding company. The sale, argued prosecutors, allowed Dolce & Gabbana, as their brand is known, to avoid Italy's high rate by paying a lower tax in Luxembourg. D&G have consistently denied the charges. Their 90-page appeal document, filed this week at Milan's courthouse,... Read more →

Sophia Loren, Italy's most renowned, honored and for moviegoers of a certain age hottest actress has been cleared of tax evasion charges after nearly 40 years. You read that right. The 79-year-old actress was convicted of and served jail time on charges from 39 years ago that she did not pay taxes on some film earnings. At issue was Loren's 1974 tax return. She declared less income to Italian tax authorities that filing year because, argued Loren, her compensation for work on Vittorio De Sica's The Voyage/Il Viaggio was deferred. That payment arrangement dropped her into a lower tax bracket,... Read more →

"Stay (Faraway, So Close)" isn't just the title of a U2 song. It's a good description of the popular Irish rock band's tax situation. The band, fronted by Bono and The Edge, has sold more than 150 million records and is estimated to be worth around €805 million ($1.1 billion U.S.). And like lots of businesses and their wealthy owners, U2 found a way to reduce its taxes. U2 moved part of its operation from its native Ireland just across the North Sea to Holland in 2006 to take advantage of that country's lower tax rate. The reason? Ireland capped... Read more →