Beyonce is taking the IRS to court! The singer is being accused of owing nearly $3 million in unpaid taxes, which she’s denying. Now, she’s filed a petition to dispute the claim.
According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says Beyonce owes $2.69 million in back taxes from the yeas 2018 and 2019. Specifically, it’s being said that she owes $805,850 from 2018 as well as $1,442,747 from 2019. Moreover, the IRS claims she owes more than $449,000 in penalties over the unpaid taxes.
Shortly after the news broke, Beyonce’s lawyer Michael C. Cohen released a statement saying they hope to clear the matter up soon. "We are working with the IRS and anticipate that the matter will be resolved shortly,” he said.
Moreover, Beyonce’s team is saying that at least $868,766 of the money in dispute was donated to charity in 2018, and therefore qualifies as a tax deduction. The charity to which she supposedly donated has not been named.
A court date hasn’t been set, and there’s a chance the matter could be settled beforehand.
Beyonce is hardly the first celebrity to run into tax troubles with the IRS. In 2021, it was reported that Hole singer Courtney Love had a tax lien of $2.4 million. Her representative released a statement saying the issue wasn’t her fault.
"Through no deliberate fault of her own, Ms. Love had a tax issue that has since been resolved,” they said.
Similarly, Lindsay Lohan has been behind on hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes throughout the years, including in 2009 when she almost failed to pay the IRS $100,000.
Interestingly, Charlie Sheen lent Lindsay the money to pay off the debt, only for him to run into tax troubles years later. In 2019, it was reported the former Two and a Half Men star owed over $5.7 million to the IRS. However, Charlie later sued the IRS in 2021 over the debt.
Beyonce may be fighting with the IRS over nearly $3 million, but this pales in comparison to the pop star’s reported net worth. She reportedly has $500 million to her name, while her husband Jay-Z has a net worth of $2.5 million.
Not only does Beyonce have the money to pay back the IRS, but even more, she has the money to fight them in court. The case remains ongoing.
Sources: Wonderwall, PEOPLE,