Wesley Snipes Ordered To Pay $9.5 million In Back Taxes To IRS

(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Wesley Snipes Ordered To Pay Back $9.5 Million In Back Taxes

Pay your taxes.

According to The Blast, after taking trying to take his tax case to court, the Wesley Snipes lost his appeal on $10 million in debt he owed to the IRS.

This isn’t a new case at all. If you recall, Snipes was sentenced to prison for not filing his federal income taxes back in 2008 and has been in a legal battle with the IRS for over a decade for tax debt from the late ‘90s and early 2000s. He claims that his accountant and anti-tax advocate allegedly convinced him he didn’t have to pay taxes. Snipes originally owed $23.5 million to the IRS, but was able to reduce it down to $9.5 million. He tried settling for $850,000 but the IRS said “nah”. Snipes filed an appeal, and the court sided granted the IRS its requests.

“Given the disparity between petitioner’s $842,061 OIC [offer-in-compromise] and the settlement officer’s calculation of $9,581,027 as his RCP [reasonable collection potential], as well as petitioner’s inability to credibly document his assets, the settlement officer and her manager had ample justification to reject the offer,” U.S. Tax Court Judge Kathleen Kerrigan.

Snipes claimed in court that his financial advisor took out loans and assets without his knowledge, but failed to provide enough evidence to back up the claim. The judge ruled the $9.5 million payout wouldn’t leave Snipes broke and that he should be able to cover it.