David Allan Coe Sentenced in IRS Case, Ordered to Pay Nearly $1 Million
Outlaw country icon David Allan Coe has been sentenced and ordered to make restitution after pleading guilty to obstructing the IRS.
Yahoo! News reports that the 76-year-old country legend was sentenced to three years of probation during a court appearance in Cincinnati on Monday (June 13). Coe was also ordered to pay more than $980,000 to the IRS to cover back taxes, plus interest and penalties.
According to court documents, Coe earned income from at least 100 concerts annually from 2008 through 2013 and either didn't file individual income tax returns during that time, or failed to pay his taxes in full when he did file.
Cincinnati news station WLWT reports that officials claim Coe "willfully failed to pay the income taxes due and owing" when he filed his 2009, 2011 and 2013 tax returns. The singer, best known for hits including "You Never Even Called Me by My Name" and "The Ride," reportedly owes the IRS $388,190.94 for the 2009 income tax year, $35,640.10 for the 2011 income tax year and $42,733.82 for the 2013 income tax year, plus the income taxes plus interest and penalties that are owing.
Prosecutors argued that he also owed back taxes for prior years, but spent his money on other debts and gambling during that time. Coe pleaded guilty in September of 2015 to one count of impeding and obstructing the due administration of the internal revenue laws. Prosecutors say that after he received correspondence from the IRS in 2009 regarding his outstanding taxes, the entertainer began receiving his concert performance fees in cash in a deliberate attempt to avoid paying taxes and avoid his accounts being levied to collect his prior debts. He could have faced three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
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