 June 20, 2011
Kirstie Alley's tax team received a call
from Chad McLeod, the Tampa, Florida, property tax collector who was
asking for the $41,395.00 she owes on
her home.
Kirstie Alley's tax team says Tampa
couldn't have sent the bill, because they never received it. Once hearing
the news, some fans were concerned her mansion (formerly owned by Lisa
Maria Presley), valued at nearly $2 million, would be subject to
foreclosure (it isn't the first time a celebrity has faced losing their
home because of taxes. How about Lisa Maria Presley's ex, Nic Cage?)
However, even though a municipality can take legal action to acquire
possession of your home for non-payment of
property taxes, that doesn't seem to be
the issue with Kirstie. Now that Kirstie is aware of the tax due she says
she is ready to pay the
property tax bill in full. McLeod
confirmed that he did receive a verbal commitment to pay from
Kirstie's spokesperson on June 9. It is
plausible that Kirstie didn't even know this was going on in Florida as
she has been staying in an apartment in New York.
Tax tips
1. Just because you didn't receive a
tax bill in the mail doesn't mean you
won't owe taxes. Same goes if your accountant or representative didn't
receive a bill. Consider that mail does get lost and that human errors do
occur. If you don't receive your annual bill be sure to follow up with the
tax office long before the tax is
actually due.
2. Remember that when you owe back taxes you aren't going to just pay the
principal amount. Every
tax authority, whether federal/state/or
local, will charge interest. Rates and penalty amounts will vary from
locality to locality, with some of them making the math easy on themselves
and simply making the penalizing fee and interest rate the same amount.
Federal income
tax penalties and interest charges.
-In the case of federal taxes, the
IRS says their interest policy works like
this:
-The interest rate is determined quarterly.
-The interest rate will be the federal short-term rate plus 3 percent.
-Interest is compounded daily.
-The maximum failure to file penalty is 5% per month up to 25% of the
unpaid tax due.(5% for up to 5 months)
-The maximum "failure to pay" penalty is 0.5% per month up to 25% of the
tax due. (0.5% for up to 50 months)
-An "accuracy-related penalty" is generally 20% of the underpayment amount.
Sources: irs.com & Income Tax Planning for Financial Planners, 4th
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