a Sift Media publication
Over 23,000 pages of accounting passion and insight!   |   Sift Media logo

Pride of the Yankees? Hal Steinbrenner Sued by the IRS

Posted by AccountingWEB in Tax, Watchdog, Income Tax, Bad Guys News on 01/03/2012 - 11:21
  • IRS suing Hal Steinbrenner, managing general partner of New York Yankees
  • Dispute over $670,494 tax refund Hal allegedly received by mistake in 2009
  • Steinbrenner claims no wrongdoing
baseball-money.jpg

By Ken Berry 

George Steinbrenner, the late owner of the New York Yankees who died in 2010, was as famous for his tirades against players and his off-season maneuverings as he was for the seven World Series championships his storied franchise won during his thirty-seven years of ownership. Now, one of his successors, his son Harold ("Hal") Steinbrenner, is gaining notoriety of a different sort: Hal is being sued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over a $670,494 tax refund he allegedly received by mistake in 2009.
 
The lawsuit – filed by the IRS on December 27, 2011, in federal court in Tampa, Florida – aims to recover the funds issued to Hal Steinbrenner, managing general partner of the Yankees, on December 28, 2009. The refund resulted from a dispute between the Steinbrenner family and the IRS for the 2001 tax year as well as audits of the team's parent company for the 2001 and 2002 tax years. 
 
According to the complaint, George Steinbrenner and the IRS settled the audit issues in an agreement accepted on March 1, 2007. That agreement created adjustments to the tax returns of the beneficiaries of a family trust. Hal Steinbrenner is a 25 percent owner of the trust.
 
The IRS says that Hal paid his taxes in full in 2008 and filed an amended 2001 tax return in 2009, seeking a refund based on a $6.8 million net operating loss carried back from 2002.The IRS paid the refund, but then determined that the refund claim should have been filed by March 1, 2009 – or more than five months before Hal initiated the claim.
 
The Steinbrenner empire is admitting to no wrongdoing. In a prepared e-mail statement, family spokesperson Alice McGillion said, "Hal Steinbrenner's representatives had no knowledge of the lawsuit and had received no prior notices regarding the matter from the IRS or any other governmental agency." Even though the dispute amounts to less than the salary the Yankees would pay to a backup catcher, it will be interesting to see which side prevails.
 
Related articles:
  • 1698 reads


Tags:   
Welcome Visitor!
Sign up for the Tax newsletter to stay informed of future content in this category.
Email:
Already have an account? Sign in:
Forgotten your password?
Join us FB Connect with us LI Follow us
Voice of the Editor
There are upsides and downsides to attending accounting conferences. One upside is the opportunity to immerse yourself in education and learn about the latest trends and tools that can help you in your profession. Another benefit is the chance to fulfil your requirement for annual CPE credits, and yet another is to interact with peers and find out how others in your profession do their jobs and relate to their clients. There are downsides as well.
Read more >>

Gail Perry, CPA
Editor-in-Chief, AccountingWEB
editor@accountingweb.com
Tax Partners
Related Content
Ohio Insurance Salesman Found Guilty of Tax Charges
Nurses Rally for a New Wall Street Tax
Facebook's Saverin: Senators Propose Crackdown on 'Friends with Tax Benefits'
IRS Issues an Apology to Dionne Warwick after a Tax Blunder in 2009
Nine Alabama Family Members Indicted for Identity Theft and Tax Fraud