Tax & Accounting News

Is Mayweather's Tax Lawyer Right About Delaying Paying the IRS?

by
Lee Reams II
on
7/13/2017
Is Mayweather's Tax Lawyer Right About Delaying Paying the IRS?

As the Mayweather versus Connor McGregor hype machine picks up steam, the tax liability of Floyd Mayweather has become one of Americas favorite talking points. Countless message boards have been debating how the rich can get away with things that the commoner cannot. When digging into the quotes from Floyd Mayweather's tax lawyer, Jeffrey Morse, it is hard to tell what is what.

The Fight Hype interview included some insight into the Mayweather camps tax deferral strategies. Mr. Morse stated that "first, Floyd always pays his taxes." This is an important detail since filing and not paying the full amount owed creates more penalties and interest. In fact, IRC section 7203 includes a $25,000 fine or imprisonment for not more than one year for a variety of reasons, including not paying estimated taxes.

What is interesting is the IRS Circular 230 section 10.51(a)(7) states that "willfully assisting, counseling, encouraging a client or prospective client in violating, or suggesting to a client or prospective client to violate, any Federal tax law, or knowingly counseling or suggesting to a client or prospective client an illegal plan to evade Federal taxes or payment thereof" is disreputable conduct, and subject to possible sanctions. So, we must assume that the Mayweather camp really is in more of a cash to asset situation versus willfully not paying their tax liability. 

But let's look at what else Mr. Morse said to FightHype.com. "Floyd's a savvy investor and if he is investing money and getting a rate of return that far exceeds what he has to pay the IRS in interest, then any smart business person is going to take advantage of that deferral." This is the point that has message boards going berserk. Is it really possible to get a higher return while investing your funds and paying the associated interest and tax penalties?

Deadspin reported the open tax liability is $22,000,000 dollars from the 2015 tax year. So assuming Mayweather did file a tax return, the unpaid tax liability immediately gets hit with a .5% per month late (if an existing lien is in place it jumps to 1% per month) penalty for a maximum of 25%. Bottom line, late payments can never exceed 25%. In addition, Mayweather would be paying late payment interest, which is currently 4% per year. Which would be on top of the 25% maximum late payment penalty. So at minimum based on an April 15, 2016 filing date, Mayweather may likely hit the 25% maximum late payment penalty by the time he pays the liability. So that would equate to a $5,500,000 dollars late penalty plus 4% interest of around $2,000,000. The total owed to the IRS would be around $29,000,000 dollars.

Let's assume Mayweather is in the top tax bracket of 39.6%; he would need to make approximately $11,500,000 dollars pre-tax to pay off the IRS penalty and interest liability of $7,000,000 dollars. For the Mayweather camp to invest the $22,000,000 over 3 years at a 10% return they would only net around $9,000,0000 dollars. So less than needed to pay off the amount owed once you factor in taxes. Again we are rounding numbers here. But what if the investment goes south, or is not liquid when the IRS comes calling for the open liability? That type of risk is substantial even for the savviest of business people.

Lee Reams II, writes for TaxBuzz, a tax news and advice website. Reach him at [email protected] or on LinkedIn.

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Lee Reams II

Lee Reams II

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I am a tax and business news junkie who has spent the last 20 years developing and executing "best in class" word-of-mouth marketing campaigns for tax and accounting professionals. With TaxBuzz and CountingWorks we have taken that same commitment to quality content directly to the consumer. Keeping you up-to-date with the latest tax law changes, business growth tips and planning strategies to help you reach your best financial outcome.

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