Saturday, May 28, 2011

CELEBRITY TAX PROBLEM OF THE WEEK




SCORSESE, PACINO WHACKED BY IRS TAX LIENS

Movie director, Martin Scorsese and actor, Al Pacino have separately been hit by the Internal Revenue Service with tax liens.

Scorsese was slapped with a tax lien for $2.85 million from the IRS on February 14, according to the New York Post. Scorsese’s tax lien appears to be related to his former accountant, Kenneth Starr, who was convicted of fraud and sentenced last week to 90 months in prison. The Oscar-winning director’s lawyers are contesting the claims.

Scorsese’s reps have also said that the “Goodfellas” director has paid off the IRS tax lien, in addition to earlier tax liens totaling nearly $1.9 million from 2002-2003.

Pacino is another former client of Starr who is also facing tax liens from the IRS. The IRS filed a lien for $188,283.50 against the “Godfather” actor for unpaid taxes from 2008 and 2009. Pacino’s representative told TMZ that he has a new business manager who will pay off the Academy Award-winning actor’s tax debts.