Frank Azar ends 20-month fight with IRS over 2017 tax bill
Frank Azar, the powerhouse private injuries lawyer and denizen of a great number of Colorado billboards, has achieved a settlement around a $716,000 tax invoice he at the time sued to end.
The agreement finishes a 20-thirty day period tax dispute involving Azar and the federal authorities that also gave increase to two connected Colorado lawsuits, one particular of which is still ongoing.
Less than the settlement amongst Azar and the Internal Profits Assistance, he agreed to pay back the invoice furthermore an supplemental $53,000, for a whole of $769,270. In exchange, the IRS agreed to drop a $143,000 penalty it experienced levied on the attorney at the begin of 2021.
Azar shown $3.9 million in taxable earnings for 2017. The IRS calculated the true number to be $5.6 million, according to U.S. Tax Court documents acquired by BusinessDen.
The settlement was authorized by U.S. Tax Courtroom Decide Cary Douglas Pugh on Dec. 13 and received by BusinessDen via an open data request.
Azar sued the IRS in April 2021, alleging it had designed a extensive listing of errors in analyzing that his 2017 tax return had been faulty and that he owed an extra $716,443.
Azar’s lawsuit claimed the IRS experienced wrongly identified he built $1.3 million in taxable earnings from organizations in 2017, experienced wrongly prohibited him from deducting $193,802 in charitable donations, had ignored his cash losses of $185,175, had wrongly penalized him for a tax return that was precise, and made 5 other major errors.
The case was scheduled for demo in April 2022 but later delayed at Azar’s request. It was rescheduled for Jan. 9, till previous month’s settlement ended the have to have for a trial.
The tax invoice has mainly been paid, in accordance to court documents. Azar sent the IRS about $312,000 in 2020 and the company used a $384,000 credit score from Azar’s 2018 taxes to his 2017 credit card debt. If he does not pay back the remaining $74,000, interest will accrue.
A spokeswoman for Azar declined to comment on the settlement. His tax lawyer, Lakewood lawyer Charles Kersch Jr., did not reply to a request for comment.
The IRS was represented by Anne Craig, a senior attorney in its Denver office. Craig also did not answer to a request for comment about the settlement.
The settlement turns notice to an Arapahoe County circumstance in which Azar is suing two accountants, Michael Sidon and Christopher Steedly, and their company CBIZ for allegedly supplying him undesirable advice that led to that 2017 tax bill. The defendants have denied wrongdoing.
In July, Azar questioned that all proceedings in the circumstance be put on maintain till the U.S. Tax Court docket scenario was settled but Choose Peter Michaelson refused to do that. A 5-day bench demo is scheduled to start May well 8 in Centennial.
The defendants in that situation are represented by Steven Anderson and Brian Huebsch, with the Littleton law firm Anderson & Jahde. They declined to comment on the subject.
In May well 2022, Azar settled a connected lawsuit that he had submitted late in 2021. In that scenario, he and his regulation organization, Azar & Associates, accused their tax preparer, Timothy McKey, of carrying out shoddy perform on the 2017 tax returns. The conditions of their settlement are confidential.
This story was claimed by our lover BusinessDen.
