After A Decades-Long Battle With The IRS, Chris Tucker Reaches A Settlement For More Than $3M

According to Bloomberg, the renowned actor will have to pay the government more than $3 million in back taxes following legal action initially taken by the U.S. to collect $9.68 million.

In a recent settlement, the “Friday” actor was ordered to pay the IRS $3.58 million in taxes, plus interest.

Per court docs filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada state, Tucker owes taxes from 2002, 2006, 2008, and 2010.

This is not Tucker’s first rodeo with the federal agency. In 2014, he agreed to pay the IRS $14 million after a lien was placed on one of his properties due to what his team said was the result of “poor accounting and business management.”

In 2010, the IRS and Tucker began negotiations that continued in 2011 and 2016 that would have him entering into an installment payment plan. The scheduled payments were to be between $25,000 and $50,000 over the course of 10 years. 

Ultimately, the deal fell through when it was determined that the Atlanta-GA, native could not pay the debt off within a decade. Per the court documents, Tucker chose not to make payments despite having “sufficient equity and cash to pay the taxes fully.”

Over the past years, the IRS has reportedly urged Tucker to liquidate his assets to pay off the taxes. However, the suggestion was turned down. 

Instead, in 2015, the 52-year-old actor and the U.S. agency agreed on monthly payments of $38,000 that he paid consistently before defaulting in 2019, according to MSN.

In early 2023, Tucker, who has achieved huge success within Hollywood, especially for the “Rush Hour” trilogy of films, explained why he walked away from the industry despite earning top dollar as an actor at the time.

“The way I kind of stepped back from Hollywood, at one point being the highest paid actor in Hollywood, I felt like you know it was a ceiling right there,” Tucker said in an interview with Classix 102.9 ATL, per Atlanta Black Star. “I wanted more — it wasn’t enough.”

He continued, “So, I stepped back, lived a little bit, traveled the world, and did a lot of humanitarian stuff that really broadened my perspective of the world. That, you know, it ain’t just about me being the biggest comic or actor in the world, it’s about becoming somebody to give to the world — to inspire in some kind of way, hopefully. So, I like that I did that.”

The details of when Tucker is expected to pay out the $3.58 million settlement to the IRS have yet to be disclosed.