Kanye West owes $600,000 in California taxes and has received three notices of unpaid fees in two years, documents revealed.
Disgraced rapper West, 45, first received a tax deposit notice in July 2021 and another in September 2022 related to his clothing brand Yeezy.
West, who now goes by the name Ye, has been open about his financial stress since 2016, when he cleared his $53 million debt in 2016.
The former billionaire was also dropped from Forbes’ High Status rankings after companies including Adidas severed ties with the rapper over his rampant anti-Semitism.
According to documents, Kanye West’s clothing brand Yeezy owes California $600,000
Yeezy’s headquarters are in Calabasas, California (above). He opened his shop in the state in 2017
West has received various deposit notices since July 2021. A lien refers to a claim made on a person’s property when they have unpaid debts.
The first lien the clothing brand received was $13,999, according to Forbes. The second lien was sent in February 2022 for $279,085, and he received another in September for $321,591.
Overall, the liens add up to more than $610,000.
Edward McCaffery, a USC law professor, told NBC, “Several California tax liens totaling $600,000 are certainly a sign of extreme incompetence or extreme liquidity problems.
“It’s sort of a yellow alert for the company’s financial health.”
The controversial rapper’s financial debt appears to have landed him in trouble with the IRS.
West told podcaster Tim Pool on Nov. 28 that the IRS enforced a $75 million withholding on four of his bank accounts. He also said he owes $50 million in back taxes.
“Okay, they’re frozen, they’ve frozen four of my accounts with $75 million,” West told Pool. “And then they said you owed a lot of taxes. It took me about six hours to figure out how much is “a lot”. They said, well, like $50 million.”
West told podcaster Tim Pool last week that four of his accounts have been frozen by the IRS because he owes $75 million
West has a track record of not paying his tax dues.
The singer admitted on The Late Late Show with James Corden that he owed $35 million in 2018. But he said he got a $68 million tax refund in 2019.
“Last year I made $115 million and I still ended up with $35 million in debt,” he previously explained. “This year I looked up and just got $68 million back in taxes.
In 2016, the rapper stunned fans after telling them he owed $53 million.
He announced his guilt on Twitter and asked for prayers. West wrote at the time: “I am writing this to you, my brothers, while I still owe $53 million in personal debt… Please pray that we will overcome… This is my true heart…”
In 2015, West also admitted that he ran into $16 million in debt while trying to launch his Yeezy clothing line.
Lots to say: Kanye West continued his Twitter rant on Saturday, admitting he owed $53 million in 2016
West was married to Kim Kardashian when he first announced his debts in 2016. Seen in 2019
West signed his lucrative deal with the Adidas brand in 2015 and it was expected to last until 2026 (pictured in 2019).
The German sporting goods manufacturer ended its partnership with Kanye West after releasing a statement calling his comments “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous”.
West was diagnosed with bipolar disorder back in 2018 after being hospitalized in 2016 for a psychiatric emergency.
He has been at the center of controversy in recent months amid backlash over his recent anti-Semitic remarks.
In October, West wrote an anti-Semitic tweet declaring he was going “death to JEWISH PEOPLE.”
The tweet, along with his other recent statements, resulted in a blow to his multi-billion dollar fortune, especially as major brands including Foot Locker and Adidas decided to pull the Yeezy collection off their shelves.
The rapper had a $1.5 billion deal with Adidas and earned $191 million in royalties in 2020 alone.
West previously claimed he lost $2 billion in a single day as companies continued to cut ties with him in October.
Speaking about the backlash, West insisted at the time that “money ain’t what I am” as he wrote a “love letter” to Hollywood super agent Ari Emanuel, who had demanded that West be dropped from all the big brands to let.
In a post titled LOVE SPEECH, he wrote: “Ari Emanuel I lost $2 billion in one day and I’m still alive. This is love speech. I still love you. God still loves you. Money is not who I am. The people are who I am.’
West claimed in October he lost $2 billion in a single day as companies continued to cut ties with the rapper following his anti-Semitic remarks (pictured in May).
Backlash: Super agent Ari Emmanuel encouraged all major brands to stop working with West in an op-ed due to his recent tirade against Jews, particularly in the media