Actor Wesley Snipes’ Settlement Offer Of $850,000 Was Rejected By the IRS

Wesley Snipes, took his case of tax to a tax court, but it wasn’t successful. He attempted to settle what he owes for $850,000 in cash. Now he has been ordered to pay over millions of dollars to the IRS.

The actor tried to prove to the court that he did not have enough to pay off a six figure settlement, but the court was not convinced calling his evidence insufficient.

Essence writes that, “The IRS tried to collect $23.5 million from Snipes in outstanding taxes for the years 2001 to 2006 back in August 2013 shortly after he completed a three-year sentence in federal prison for tax-related offenses. Snipes then attempted to settle for significantly less than the amount owed by only paying $850,000 in cash. His request would have also allowed him to free himself of the federal tax lien against his property assets, including his home. And although the offer was rejected, Snipes even filed a petition with the court asking that the rejection of his offer be overturned.”

U.S Tax Court Judge Kathleen Kerrigan ruled against Snipes, stating that his representation failed to provide sufficient proof that his assets cannot settle the problem.

Wesley Snipes

The Hollywood Reporter also writes that, “The lien was placed in August 2013, just a few months after the actor was released from prison following his conviction on related tax crimes. At the time, he owed $23.5 million for the years 2001 through 2006. Snipes then requested an installment agreement or OIC and made his cash payment. A settlement officer looked into his real estate holdings and assets but was unable to determine that he no longer owned certain properties that he claimed to have unloaded. Following the investigation, the officer determined that the reasonable amount that could be collected was about $17.5 million, but Snipes didn’t increase his OIC offer.”

It also writes that, “During the proceedings that followed, Snipes claimed his financial adviser had taken out loans and disposed of assets without his knowledge and offered up an affidavit from the adviser admitting to misconduct — but he didn’t provide documentation showing the diversion of the assets. “
Reports also have it that the settlement officer later reduced Snipe’s estimated liability to $9.5 million despite Snipe holding on to his original offer.

After rejecting Snipes offer, Kerrigan writing that, “Given the disparity between petitioner’s $842,061 OIC and the settlement officer’s calculation of $9,581,027 as his RCP, as well as petitioner’s inability to credibly document his assets, the settlement officer and her manager had ample justification to reject the offer. Accordingly, we conclude that the settlement officer did not abuse her discretion in determining that acceptance of petitioner’s OIC was not in the best interest of the United States.”

Whether or not Snipes truly doesn’t own those properties, is yet to be proven.