Nicolas Cage and $6.2 Million in IRS Tax Debts: Bad Judgment and Corrupt Management

When it comes to paying his income taxes, Nicolas Cage seems to be in one huge mess after another. Less than a year ago, Cage celebrated what he called a “win” in a tax battle with the Internal Revenue Service.   The IRS was demanding $1.8 million in back taxes, penalties, and interest, and the actor ended up paying about $660,000.  Then again, with Peter Stephan and the Tax Resolution Institute on his side and the proper tax resolution strategies, Cage it is likely that he could have gotten a much lower settlement.

However, none of the above seems to matter all that much today because, less than a year later, Cage finds himself in even bigger trouble with the IRS. Having failed to cover the tax bills for two big movie checks, Nicolas Cage had an IRS lien filed against him for over $6.2 million dollars. Even for a super wealthy movie star, such a humungous tax bill is a lot to swallow.

In 2007, Cage starred in two movies,  “Ghost Rider” and “Grindhouse” and was paid a total of $24 million. The IRS claims the actor failed to pay taxes on that hefty amount of personal income. On July 14, 2009, IRS Revenue Agents filed a tax lien against him in the New Orleans District Court in Louisiana, for $6,257,005. East West Bank also filed a breach-of-contract complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court that claims Cage had failed to repay a $2 million loan that was extended this past August.
Nicolas Cage is desperate to sell his homes in New Orleans and in Hollywood to raise the cash to pay the tax bill. In April, Cage waved farewell to his Bavarian castle, selling it to his German advisor, lawyer Konrad Wilfurth. Cage also recently sold his New York City apartment that had been listed at $9.75 million for a substantially lower price.

In a lawsuit filed Oct. 16 in Los Angeles, Cage claims that his longtime business manager, Samuel J. Levin, “lined his pockets with several million dollars in business management fees while sending Cage down a path toward financial ruin.” In the past, the IRS accused Cage of writing off  $3.3 million in personal expenses as business deductions. During the dispute, the same Samuel J. Levin told reporters that such expenses like hair care, make-up, clothing, manicurists, personal trainers, and bodyguards were “customary” in the entertainment industry.

In the new lawsuit filed against Levin, Cage says he “relied on Levin to handle his financial affairs to ensure that he and his family would have a financially secure future built on the foundation of the substantial monies Cage earned through years of hard work. He is now forced to sell major assets and investments at a significant loss and is faced with huge tax liabilities because of Levin’s incompetence, misrepresentations and recklessness,” the lawsuit alleges.

Once again, relying on corrupt and sycophantic management, a Hollywood star like Nicolas Cage finds himself in extreme trouble with the IRS. Again! If Nicolas Cage had relied on Peter Stephan for business management, he would never have had such a problem. If he had come to the Tax Resolution Institute after the IRS tax lien was filed, Peter Stephan could have negotiated an Offer in Compromise that could have done away with the penalties and the interest accumulated. Avoiding the bad publicity, Nicolas Cage could have settled his IRS tax debt for a fraction of the actual cost.