Kanye West Says He Owes $50 Million in Taxes
Kanye West claims he owes $50,000,000 in taxes. Here we are again, with yet another celebrity that seems to be in tax trouble. I’m side-eyeing his claims though. Kanye West appeared on the Timcast IRL podcast Kanye, or should I say “Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West”? Ye told Tim Pool: "I'm talking about literally finding out that they were trying to put me in prison this morning. But I found out — okay, so they froze, they put a $75 million hold on four of my accounts. And then they said, you owe a lot of taxes. Took me like six hours to find out how much. A lot — was it — well, around $50 million. “ I want to dissect these statements to share with you why I’m giving him the side-eye.
The Collections Process
When you owe a tax debt, there is a process the IRS follows to collect the debt. First, you’ll get a bill in the form of a CP14 Letter. Next, you’ll get a reminder, a CP501 letter. Then you’ll receive a reminder about the reminder, a CP503 letter. If you haven't responded to any of those letters, you'll receive a CP504 Letter - a Notice of Intent to Seize (Levy) your property. There are at least 4 letters that Kanye West should have received at his last known address. Notice of Intent to Levy Once the taxpayer doesn’t respond to those letters, then the notices of Intent to Levy are sent. As mentioned above, the first letter is the CP504 Notice of Intent to Levy. The Notice of Intent to Levy explains that the IRS intends to levy (seize funds) if the amount owed is not paid within 30 days. At some point, the taxpayer will receive the letter 1058. That's when the IRS has finally counted to three and decided to put their foot down and will levy your property. If you’ve been counting, from the time the tax is owed to the time the IRS even announces they are intending to levy your bank account can be upwards of 6 months. Please note that there is no mention of putting anyone in jail. By the IRSs' own processes, they didn’t ‘suddenly’ freeze $75,000,000. There has been ample opportunity to pay. 
Ye said it took him 6 hours to find out how much he owes.
Sir, What? If Ye filed his taxes, he only needed to look at the tax return (s). I don’t care how you slice it, he had to have put his eyeballs on a tax return in order to sign it. We can only assume that he has a competent accountant. If that’s the case, it would have taken a phone call. He could have also logged into his IRS account. We’re going to just assume he doesn’t have an account, since many people do not. Him taking ‘6 hours to find out’ is ridiculous. Unless he was waiting for someone to get to work, it should not have taken him 6 hours to find out how much he owed in taxes. It may have taken him that long to find the letters and open them.
The IRS doesn’t resort to prison first
Now, back to Ye stating they were looking for him to put him in jail. While I was not there; I have a hard time believing this. I listened to the podcast, and he never specified exactly who was looking to put him in jail. He specifically said no one up to his house, but 'they' wanted to put him in jail. The IRS does not automatically put you in jail for owing taxes. If you owe, and you try to evade paying, then they will arrest you. Tax evasion is when you illegally don’t pay what you owe by hiding money, for example, or you try to flee the country without paying. That’s when the government puts you in jail. The only time the IRS will jump any of this process is if they believe they are dealing with someone who is a flight risk, or are concerned the taxpayer will try to dispose of assets to avoid paying taxes. Otherwise, they follow the process. My favorite part: After revealing he attempted to find out, “would this be tax evasion?” Kanye West then admitted, “I’m obviously not the most financially literate person on the planet.” Even the most financially illiterate person knows to pay taxes. #StopIt What’s the Take Away There is a collections process the IRS follows. It doesn’t go from you owing directly to levying wages and bank accounts. When you don’t respond to IRS letters, you force the IRS to enforce the law. Those laws are written by Congress, not the IRS. The IRS is the longest reaching arm of the law. If you have received letters from the IRS, open them, and then call us - 877.482.9411. We can help!
IRS Use of Private Collection Agencies
I received a frantic call from a new client. "HELP! I got a letter saying that the IRS referred my debt to a collection agency." The first question I had was why hadn’t they told me about the past tax debt. Actually, that was the only question I had, but anywho… While I totally get that collection agencies can be scary, I promise no collection agency is scarier than the IRS. If that’s the case, why does the IRS use outside collection agencies?
Use of Private Collection Agencies is Law
Congress passed a law requiring the IRS to use private collection agencies (PCAs) to help collect overdue taxes.
Your account is sent to a PCA if:
- The IRS was unable to locate you or didn’t have the resources available to locate you.
- A year has passed and you or your representative haven’t interacted with the IRS on your account.
- More than 2 years have passed since the assessment and the account was not assigned for collection.
Private Collection Agencies Used by the IRS
Effective September 23, 2021, when the IRS assigns your account to a private collection agency, one of these three agencies will contact you on the government's behalf:
CBE Group Inc. P.O. Box 2217, Waterloo, IA 50704 Phone: 800-910-5837
Coast Professional, Inc. P.O. Box 425, Geneseo, NY 14454 Phone: 888-928-0510
ConServe P.O. Box 307, Fairport, NY 14450 Phone: 844-853-4875
What's the process when your account is sent to a Private Collection Agency?
You will receive two letters before you are contacted by a private collection agency.
First, the IRS will send Notice CP40 and Publication 4518. As with any other letter you receive from the IRS, open the envelope and read the Notice CP40 carefully. It will tell you that your overdue account was assigned to a PCA. It will also contain important information on what you can expect to happen next.
Secondly, the private collection agency will send their initial contact letter. It has information on how to resolve your overdue taxes.
Both letters contain a Taxpayer Authentication Number. It’s used to confirm your identity. It’s also for you to verify that the caller is legitimate. Keep this number in a safe place.
Private Debt Collection Agencies Call
Unlike the IRS, PCAs will call you, but only AFTER they have sent their initial contact letter. Here’s what you should do when a PCA calls you.
- Validate that the caller is representing one of the private collection agencies listed above.
- The private collection agency will ask you a series of questions to verify that they’re talking to the right person.
- You will be asked for the Taxpayer Authentication Number with the private collection agency to validate each other’s identity.
- The private collection agency will be courteous, and professional and respect your taxpayer rights while following the laws.
- The private collection agency will work with you to resolve your overdue taxes. They will NOT threaten you. If you feel the private collection agency acted inappropriately, here’s how to report it.
How do you make payments to a Collection Agency?
YOU DON’T! Even though your account has been turned over to a PCA, you only make payments to the IRS.
You can use irs.gov/payments for electronic payment options. You can use IRS Direct Pay to use direct debit (from your checking or savings account), preauthorized Direct Debit, the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), or you can pay by check/money order payable to the United States Treasury.
If you use a check or money order, write your name, Social Security number, and tax year on your payment. The private collection agency will provide the appropriate IRS mailing address for the payment, or you can find it here. Even though you can mail a payment to the IRS, only use it as a last resort. Paying online is faster and more secure.
Private Collection Agencies have no enforcement authority
Private collection agencies cannot take any type of enforcement action against you to collect your debt. However, the IRS does have the legal authority to file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien (against any property) or issue a levy (take money from your bank account) to collect an overdue account.
Don’t want to deal with the PCA?
If you don’t want to deal with the collection agency, you can have your account moved back to the IRS. You must submit this request in writing to the PCA.
Takeaways -
Having your account sent to a PCA isn’t the worst thing in the world. It just means that the IRS couldn’t find you. The IRS will mail letters to your last known address. If you’ve moved and haven't filed past due returns, the IRS may not have a good address for you. They aren’t gonna hunt you down. They will simply turn your account over to a PCA.