Gawker: defamer, irs

Ready Your Pitchforks: While we can usually...

Kyle Buchanan — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:15:00 EDT

Ready Your Pitchforks: While we can usually count on Nicolas Cage for his on-screen eccentricities, it seems that he can't even let a simple financial pickle pass without adding his own unique touch to the proceedings. According to Forbes, the actor has been caught deducting millions worth of personal expenses (simple things, like a Gulfstream 1159A turbojet) and now owes the IRS "substantial back taxes." Just how much does Cage have to fork over? The not-at-all ominous sum of $666,000. Looks like Ghost Rider's been taking that deal with the devil a bit too seriously... [Forbes]

Court Documents Reveal Wesley Snipes Would Be Killer At Pictionary

Mark Graham — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:26:54 EST

Wesley Snipes, the world's surliest vampire hunter, is about to go to trial on some SERIOUS tax evasion charges. Whoopsy daisy, seems that Blade forgot to declare and pay taxes on the $38 million that he made between 1999 and 2004 (we're thinking he made about $38 from 2005 until the present). But The Smoking Gun, being the document sleuths that they are, got their rubber-gloved hands on a document that Wesley filed with an Orange County (FLA, not CA) comptroller back in 2005. We used our computer's highly advanced Ctrl+Alt+Print Screen functionality to grab the image you see above, an image so confusing that it provokes more questions than it could ever possibly answer. First off, is that a hand-drawn self-portrait? It's like Van Gogh meets Rothko meets Rorshach! And second of all, that blood type! Does that mix with AB Negative? We must know. Lastly, that penmanship! We haven't seen so many swirls in a signature since Peggy Sue got married. But wait, there's more!

On The View this morning, the ladies were without their fearlessly stentorian leader, Baba Wawa. Whoopi, the de facto boss when Babs isn't around, was so emboldened by the absence of Miss Walters that she decided to bring up the fact that Wesley Snipes has called the septugenarian slurrer as a witness in said tax evasion case. Don't believe us? Watch the clip. Hot Topics, whoo!

Wesley Snipes: All Kinds Of Crazy [THE SMOKING GUN]

"Girls Gone Wild" Tax Indictment Teaches Us Not To Deduct Funny-Looking Numbers

Ben Popken — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:43:55 EDT

Joe Francis, the quivering chumbucket behind the "Girls Gone Wild" franchise, got indicted Wednesday for tax evasion, as noted by commenter LAGirl. His story holds a lesson for all taxpayers: when claiming deductions, don't use funny-looking numbers.

Numbers that set off a red flag for the IRS: round numbers, dollar amounts without decimals... and deductions consisting of the same number repeated over and over again.

Like Francis' false insurance claim for $333,333.33.

He also claimed $500,000.00, and $1,666,666,67 deductions. Ask any accountant. Those are damn stupid numbers.

Look at a receipt in your wallet. Did that coffee cost $1.11? Or $1.00? It was probably more like $1.28.

The same goes for your deductions. Let's face it, most of us don't keep every receipt, but when you're slightly fudging a number from memory, at least make it look right. — BEN POPKEN

Federal Tax Rap for "Girls Gone Wild" Boss [The Smoking Gun]