Tax investigation - the rich and famous  

A light-hearted look tax investigation.

Even the rich and famous can't escape the misery of tax investigation. Here's our Top Ten.

Al Capone - Legend has it that the notorious gangster once remarked that tax laws were a joke because "the government can't collect legal taxes on illegal money." But the government could, and it was that law that enabled the FBI to arrest Capone after a tax investigation. They couldn't indict him for his years of illegal gambling, prostitution, murder, and bootlegging, but he couldn't escape the taxman.

Richard Pryor - Pryor served 10 days in a Los Angeles county jail in 1974 for tax evasion following a tax investigation. According to him, he told the judge he forgot to pay.

Martha Stewart - Stewart argued that she shouldn't have to pay New York state taxes in 2002. After all, she said, she barely spent any time in New York. Unfortunately, a judge got his tax investigation research from her own material: a passage from one of her books that said she had a house in East Hampton, New York. Stewart paid up.

Luciano Pavarotti - Pavarotti was twice the subject of a tax investigation and accused of tax evasion: once in 1999 and again in 2001. The second time he was acquitted, but in '99, he did have to pay nearly £6 million to the Italian government.

Boris Becker - The tennis great avoided jail in '02 and received probation. He also paid 3 million Euros for back taxes owed to the German government. He decided he didn't want to pay any more taxes in Germany, and moved to tax heaven in Switzerland.

Sophia Loren - Hollywood great Sophia Loren spent 18 days in an Italian jail for tax evasion.

Steffi Graf - in 1995, Graf was accused by German authorities of tax evasion on her tennis winnings in the early part of her career. During the tax investigation it emerged that at the time Steffi's father, Peter Graf, was in charge of her finances. The charges against Steffi were eventually dropped after she paid 1.3 million deutschemarks, and her father spent close to four years in prison.

Paul Hogan - the Crocodile Dundee actor was under tax investigation by Australian authorities. Hogan, whose film and television appearances were credited with tripling the number of American visitors heading down under in the 1980s, was suspected, along with business partner John Cornell, of concealing millions of dollars in royalties in tax havens abroad.

Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan - the chatshow favourites were the subject of a test case tax investigation when the Chancellor decided that authors and presenters didn't really need their agents, and that he should be getting the money instead.

And even British Royalty can't escape. Prince Charles recently underwent scrutiny over his accounts as MPs demanded to know why his main income benefited from tax exemptions. The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee has written to the Treasury questioning why the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster do not pay corporation or capital gains tax. Whether it'll get as far as a tax investigation remains to be seen.

If you have received notice from HMRC of a tax investigation or Civil Investigation of Fraud proceedings, call us for help and advice today. All enquiries are strictly confidential, so phone 0800 734 3333 or e-mail scott.gilbert@gilberttax.co.uk now

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