There's the version of tax resolution the late-night commercials sell you. Then there's how it actually works. I'm Darrin Mish, a Tampa tax attorney. I've spent 32 years on the inside of these cases. Here's the real version.
Minnesota State senator Satveer Chaudhary (DFL – Fridley), currently owes the IRS more than $252,000 in back taxes for the years 2007 and 2008. His and his wife, Denise’s unpaid taxes for 2007 amounted to some $100,000 while that for 2008 came up to $151,000. Click here to watch or read more information on IRS Back Taxes.
Senator Chaudhary gained notoriety in the last sitting of the state legislature in May when he pushed through a last minute, end-of-session legislature as part of the natural resources bill that would require walleye possession restrictions in Fish Lake, north of Duluth. Chaudhary is the state chairman of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee and whose own home on Fish Lake would have been affected by his legislation if it had gone through. As it turned out, Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed the entire fish and game bill.
Senator Chaudhary said that the outstanding tax bill came about primarily because his wife was laid off from her job in a biopharmaceutical company, Celgene. The couple contend that the laying off was unjustified and are challenging it in Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. Chaudhary told the Duluth News Tribune that the company allegedly forced his wife to exercise her options of using her existing stocks to buy into some other stocks, and this directly led to their tax delinquency. This explained the tax bill for 2008 but not 2007. Chaudhary said he was not aware of how the 2007 bill came about and would talk to his accountant over the matter.
Chaudhary’s proposed legislation resulted in vehement protests from residents around the lakeside. Subsequently, Chaudhary admitted to making a hasty decision when he promoted the legislation and even offered to repeal it in the next legislative sitting but Governor Pawlenty had already vetoed the entire natural resources bill, partly because of Chaudhary’s legislation.
Late last month, Chaudhary’s own political party’s committee for the suburban Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul withdrew their endorsement of his candidacy for a primary election and backed his challenger instead. Whether their decision stems out of Chaudhary’s tax problems could not be immediately confirmed. The state DFL party spokeswoman, Kristin Sosanie said that DFL had no comment about Chaudhary’s back taxes.
Chaudhary himself pledged to settle his tax dues ‘pretty quickly’. He also confirmed that his tax liability is part of the total damages he is seeking in his case against Celgene.
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