Tinseltown tycoon Tyler Perry has hauled in nearly a billion dollars just off the Madea movies and theater productions alone. But he paid a hefty price for his accountants’ incompetency – and perhaps even impropriety.
In a video that has just circulated through cyberspace, Perry told a crowd at the “Earn Your Leisure’s Invest Fest” in Atlanta that his accountant’s longtime mismanagement of his money resulted in the IRS owing Perry over $9 million.
Yes, you read that right.
Perry, 53, unabashedly admitted that his financial illiteracy contributed to this debacle.
“Money isn’t something that I had, and nobody taught me that taxes had to be paid. [I] didn’t go to college, but I paid for Harvard many times over in the mistakes that I made,” Perry told the audience.
Perry was compelled to report the agents assigned to the case for acting unprofessionally. However, even though the agents were fired and replaced, the arduous audit of his finances continued and stretched on for three years.
Perry, who has made more than $660 million on the Madea movies, was disgusted.
“So, this audit went on for three years. I’m spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in accounting with accountants for the audit and I am getting so mad, and so frustrated,” Perry said, recoiling at the recollection.
However, by the end of the audit, Perry realized that he did not owe the federal government any money. To his astonishment, he learned that the IRS owed him a gigantic bag.
“We get to the end of the audit and they, the IRS, owed me $9 million,” an incredulous Perry admitted to the stunned audience.
The accountants, who racked up big money in billable hours, was ecstatic. They ran to him and asked him, “isn’t this great?”
Perry retorted: “I said ‘hell naw! How did you miss me paying $9 million?’ I had to stop going to H&R block for my taxes at some point.”
The creator, director, producer, writer and actor in a blizzard of movies, theater plays and television shows finally had to come to one conclusion: “I learned in progress and it’s OK.”
In closing, Perry dispensed some advice to the 14,000 attendees.
“Listen to me. In business, it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to learn. You have to learn, but don’t let it keep happening over and over again,” Perry said. “That’s one thing about me. I’ll let you make a million mistakes, but you can’t do the same thing over and over again.”
Watch the video below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjyt_rKgvSb/
