Richard Hatch in trouble with the IRS

[mparrish11]

It seems that Mr. Hatch thought he could pull one over the eyes of the IRS.  According to the documents (see link), he willfully did not report the $1M winnings from the competition and the $10K he was paid for his appearance on the final show.  He is also accused of not reporting his substantial earnings from his radio show....

Anyway, he is looking at about 5 years in prison and/or up to $500,000 in penalties for each count.

http://thesmokinggun.com/archive/0118051hatch1.html

Matthew

[chris319]

Who wants to be an un-millionaire?

BTW, he's looking at a $250,000 fine according to the story.

[Matt Ottinger]

This story's moving quickly.  The AP says he's already agreed to a guilty plea:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=421834

[passwordplus]

CNN Live: We now have breaking game show news, Richard Hatch (former Survivor winner) has agreed to a guilty plea. We go live to Michigan where we have Invision board's Matt Ottinger, LIVE, with breaking details, Matt.

Matt: Oh yes, the biggest news since I took on Ken Jennings(conversation goes on). LOL

What a friggin' idiot Hatch is for thinking that somebody from the IRS doesn't watch one of CBS' top 10 shows! Amazing!

Did a yahoo news search on this and found this link alongside the story, the actual court papers

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/survivo...atch105inf.html

[mparrish11]

[quote name=\'mparrish11\' date=\'Jan 18 2005, 02:55 PM\']It seems that Mr. Hatch thought he could pull one over the eyes of the IRS.  According to the documents (see link), he willfully did not report the $1M winnings from the competition and the $10K he was paid for his appearance on the final show.  He is also accused of not reporting his substantial earnings from his radio show....

Anyway, he is looking at about 5 years in prison and/or up to $500,000 in penalties for each count.

http://thesmokinggun.com/archive/0118051hatch1.html

Matthew

[snapback]71746[/snapback]

[/quote]

You are right, my apologies.  :-)

[sshuffield70]

[quote name=\'passwordplus\' date=\'Jan 18 2005, 03:56 PM\']CNN Live: We now have breaking game show news, Richard Hatch (former Survivor winner) has agreed to a guilty plea. We go live to Michigan where we have Invision board's Matt Ottinger, LIVE, with breaking details, Matt.

Matt: Oh yes, the biggest news since I took on Ken Jennings(conversation goes on). LOL

What a friggin' idiot Hatch is for thinking that somebody from the IRS doesn't watch one of CBS' top 10 shows! Amazing!

Did a yahoo news search on this and found this link alongside the story, the actual court papers

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/survivo...atch105inf.html

[snapback]71767[/snapback]

[/quote]

What's the chances it was our favorite millionaire?

[Steve Gavazzi]

I have to wonder...how the hell did it take the IRS four and a half years to notice that a guy who was all over television for months on end hadn't given them any money?

[starcade]

Why am I surprised with that asshole???

Seriously, he always seemed to act, on the show, like he was more important than anyone else (including Jeff!!), so it doesn't surprise me that he'd try to get outside on that money...

[Gromit]

Ah, you crazy Americans with your strange tax laws. Taxing winnings?

Whaaat a country!

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Jan 18 2005, 03:36 PM\']I have to wonder...how the hell did it take the IRS four and a half years to notice that a guy who was all over television for months on end hadn't given them any money?

[snapback]71788[/snapback]

[/quote]
Yeah, it makes you wonder how many OTHER people with significantly lower profiles have not claimed income of that magnitude over the last several years and totally escaped the IRS's radars....

[Monarx]

[quote name=\'Gromit\' date=\'Jan 18 2005, 08:01 PM\']Ah, you crazy Americans with your strange tax laws. Taxing winnings?

Whaaat a country!

[snapback]71824[/snapback]

[/quote]
In Soviet Russia, winnings tax you!

er... Yeah, winnings shouldn't be taxed.  Go live on an island for yourselves for 39 days, IRS.  Sucks to be Mr. Hatch though.

[TLEberle]

So, the IRS taxes income.  Game show winnings are income for the winners.  Why should it be any different?  I personally would rather earn a million dollars somehow besides Survivor, but still, I don't see why if athletes pay taxes on their earnings, game show winners should be exempt.

[Mike Tennant]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Jan 18 2005, 09:03 PM\']So, the IRS taxes income.  Game show winnings are income for the winners.  Why should it be any different?  I personally would rather earn a million dollars somehow besides Survivor, but still, I don't see why if athletes pay taxes on their earnings, game show winners should be exempt.

[snapback]71839[/snapback]

[/quote]
Or, better yet, don't tax income at all.  It's not as if the government couldn't get along without it.  As one economist recently explained, taking away all the revenue collected by the IRS would still leave the government with money to spend equal to that which it spent in Bill Clinton's last year in office.  If the feds can't survive on that same amount of money a mere five years later--and we can all think of plenty of wasteful programs that could be cut or eliminated to cover the shortfall--then they have a serious problem (which they do).

[Brig Bother]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Jan 19 2005, 02:03 AM\']So, the IRS taxes income.  Game show winnings are income for the winners.  Why should it be any different?  I personally would rather earn a million dollars somehow besides Survivor, but still, I don't see why if athletes pay taxes on their earnings, game show winners should be exempt.

[snapback]71839[/snapback]

[/quote]

I suppose it depends on whether you think going on a gameshow is a job or not. I prefer to think of prizes as gifts. If your grandmother gives you $20 for your birthday, do you immediately declare it to IRS? If not then why not?

Actually I couldn't care less, I'm British and I've failed to win anything over here. Not that we pay taxes on winnings anyway.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Brig Bother\' date=\'Jan 19 2005, 11:17 AM\']I suppose it depends on whether you think going on a gameshow is a job or not. I prefer to think of prizes as gifts. If your grandmother gives you $20 for your birthday, do you immediately declare it to IRS? If not then why not?
[/quote]
I think the problem is that there are those who DO, and would make it a profession if they could get away with it. Couple that with our gub'ment's need to try to get a piece on every dollar we touch.