Fans trying to help famous rapper with tax debt

A famous rapper is receiving a rather unique form of assistance in relation to some tax issues he is facing.

The rapper in question is Nelly. He purportedly has been assessed some major tax bills: an over $2 million tax debt with the Internal Revenue Service and a nearly $150,000 tax debt with the Missouri Department of Revenue. It was recently reported that the IRS brought a lien against him in connection to the federal tax debt.

In response to this news, fans of Nelly have undertaken a somewhat unusual effort to help him out. Specifically, they are streaming his songs to try to give him an income boost to help with the debt. Generally, when a song is listened to on a streaming service, the musical artist behind it gets a small royalty. Streaming of Nelly music went up considerably after this campaign began.

While this certainly is an interesting form of tax assistance, it may not be a very effective one. Given the small nature of the royalties from streaming, the campaign is not expected to knock out much of the rapper’s debt.

It is also a form of assistance pretty much no other taxpayer could count on getting. Most people facing big tax debts are without a legion of adoring fans.

However, a person doesn’t need hoards of fans to deal with a tax debt. There are a range of different tools a taxpayer may have access to for trying to resolve such a debt, from installment agreements to offers in compromise. What particular methods would be available for a taxpayer and which ones would be a good fit for their tax debt situation is influenced by a variety factors. Taxpayers can turn to the help of skilled tax law attorneys in their efforts to find the right solution to the tax debt problems they are facing.

Source: Accounting Today, “Nelly Fans Stream to Pay Off Rapper’s IRS Tax Debts,” Michael Cohn, Sept. 19, 2016