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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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IRS Takes on Action Star Snipes in Court

Tax fraud conviction could net actor up to 16 years in slammer

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(Newser) – Action movie star Wesley Snipes tomorrow faces his toughest opponent yet: the IRS in a Florida court. Snipes could face up to 16 years in prison if he's convicted of failing to report the $37.9 million he earned between 1999 and 2004, and filing for $11.3 million in allegedly fraudulent refunds for earlier taxes. Snipes' attorney insisted it wasn't fraudulent; it was just Snipes' way of asking the IRS a question.

Charged with Snipes are two tax protesters who ran an aggressive tax accounting firm that later claimed to be a tax-free nonprofit church. They had argued that the federal government only has a right to tax income generated in other countries. Snipes turned to them after his normal accounting firm dropped him, telling him that he had to pay taxes, Reuters reports.

Wesley Snipes arrives at the Pan African Film and Arts Festival in Los Angeles in this Feb. 8, 2007 photo. Wesley Snipes' federal tax-evasion trial will go forward next month in this central Florida city, despite arguments by the actor's lawyers. The rulings were made by U.S. District Judge...
Wesley Snipes arrives at the Pan African Film and Arts Festival in Los Angeles in this Feb. 8, 2007 photo. Wesley Snipes' federal tax-evasion trial will go forward next month in this central Florida city,...   (Associated Press)
Actor Wesley Snipes leaves the Federal Courthouse in Ocala Fla. after posting a $1 million bond in this Dec. 8, 2006, file photo. A federal judge has denied Wesley Snipes' most recent request to have his tax evasion trial moved from this central Florida city. Senior U.S. District Judge...
Actor Wesley Snipes leaves the Federal Courthouse in Ocala Fla. after posting a $1 million bond in this Dec. 8, 2006, file photo. A federal judge has denied Wesley Snipes' most recent request to have...   (Associated Press)
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