Kanye West owes $50 million to the IRS
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Kanye West owes $50 million to the IRS

During a recent podcast appearance, rapper Kanye West admitted that he owes $50 million (£41.6m) in taxes.

As reported by The Independent, it was during his interview on Tim Pool’s Timcast IRL show – which he stormed out of after being questioned about his recent antisemitic remarks – that he made the revelation. The Donda 2 rapper said that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has blocked off $75m (£62.4m) in his accounts because he owes $50m in tax. He explained to Pool that his “finance people” have told him that he has “to pay a lot of taxes”.

“I’m talking about literally finding out that they were trying to put me in prison this morning,” he continued. “But I found out … they put a $75m hold on four of my accounts.”

West then added: “And then they said, ‘You owe a lot of taxes’. Took me like six hours to find out how much… around $50m.” The musician then conceded that while he’s “obviously not the most financially literate person on the planet” he has spoken to “different CFOs” within his company to determine whether not paying the sum would be tax evasion. 

“So now… I get to actually learn how to run a company,” West said. “I get to learn how… to count, really. It’s like I didn’t even know where to put the money.” Afterwards, he stated that he is attempting to buy his own bank. 

The information emerges on the same day as the news that West and Kim Kardashian have now reached an agreement in the terms of their divorce, with proceedings now finalised. West is ordered to pay Kardashian $200,000 (£167,000) per month in child support. Additionally, both have agreed to cover 50% of their children’s educational, medical and security costs.