Global music icon Andrea Bocelli is warring with the IRS after he was slapped with a $8.4million federal tax lien, DailyMail.com can reveal.
The legendary Italian tenor, singer-songwriter and producer – who regularly performs sold out gigs in the US – was hit with the hefty bill in October last year.
According to New York City Department of Finance documents Bocelli appears to have an unpaid balance of over $4million from the 2016 tax year and another $4.4million from 2017.
The filing has no record of having been satisfied.
But in a statement to DailyMail.com Bocelli’s management team insisted the massive bill was down to a ‘clerical error’ at the IRS and NOT Bocelli dodging his taxes.
Andrea Bocelli, the legendary Italian singer-songwriter and producer – was hit with a hefty $8.4million bill from the IRS in October last year. But in a statement to DailyMail.com Bocelli’s management team insisted the massive bill was down to a ‘clerical error’ at the IRS
A spokesman said Bocelli isn’t behind on payments and they’re now trying to resolve the issue.
The address provided for Bocelli in the federal filing is linked to a Manhattan accounting firm called GC Consultants run by managing partner Giuseppe Brusa.
GC Consultants offers tax compliance and consulting services to foreign companies and individuals operating in the American market.
The address provided for Bocelli in the federal filing is linked to a Manhattan accounting firm called GC Consultants run by managing partner Giuseppe Brusa, who is seen giving a lecture about international tax compliance
Brusa, who speaks with a thick Italian accent, is seen in a YouTube video giving a lecture about international tax compliance. He declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.
Bocelli, who has an estimated worth of around $100million, regularly traveled to America to sing before the COVID-19 crisis, with his last gig in the country being in Charlotte, North Carolina in February.
It’s understood the opera superstar, famous for songs such as Time to Say Goodbye, The Prayer and more recently working with Ed Sheeran on hit single Perfect, commands mouth-watering fees in the region of $1.5million per concert.
A spokesman for the tenor told DailyMail.com that Bocelli’s team was working with the IRS to resolve the error.
‘Andrea Bocelli has no outstanding taxes due to the IRS in the US,’ the spokesman said.
‘The IRS issued a tax lien on October 21st 2019. We claimed tax credits as withholding payments in 2016 and 2017 in Andrea Bocelli’s Italian tax return and they were not able to apply or find the withholding amount deposited by the withholding agents.
‘This is a clerical error on the part of the IRS not by Andrea Bocelli, his promoters or representatives.’
The spokesman said Bocelli’s tax bill for 2016 has since been ‘cleared’ by the IRS but the 2017 bill is still being resolved.
According to New York City Department of Finance documents obtained by DailyMail.com Bocelli appears to have an unpaid balance of over $4million from the 2016 tax year and another $4.4million from 2017
The successful singer isn’t short of cash.
He owns a stunning 8,000-square-foot villa on the Mediterranean coast in Italy where he lives with wife Veronica and his three children, Amos, 25, Matteo, 22, and Virginia, eight.
The former hotel called Villa Alpemare, is the definition of luxury off the coast of Versilia, Tuscany, the same region he grew up.
The three-floor, powder-pink property which backs on to the beach, featured in Architectural Digest magazine in June 2019 and boasts a living and dining room on the first floor, offices, a music studio and guest rooms on the second floor and bedrooms and private spaces on the top level.
When he moved in Bocelli, 61, spent a fortune renovating the main house.
The wealthy singer also owns the Alpemare Beach Resort across the road which he acquired in 2017.
In the US the star owns a large mansion in Miami’s exclusive Keystone Point which has seven bedrooms and a large pool looking out over Biscayne Bay.
In July Bocelli was spotted enjoying some much-needed sunshine and relaxation on a luxury yacht in the French Riviera.
The blind singer, who recently recovered after contracting COVID-19, was snapped as he took a dip in the ocean off the shores of ritzy St Tropez.
Bocelli was joined on the yacht by wife Veronica, 36, who also serves as his manager.
Bocelli owns a stunning 8,000-square-foot villa on the Mediterranean coast in Italy where he lives with wife Veronica and his three children, Amos, 25, Matteo, 22, and Virginia, eight
Bocelli is not strapped for cash and is often seen in relaxation mode as he and his wife Veronica Berti soaked up the sun on a yacht in St Tropez last month
The three-floor, powder-pink property which backs on to the beach boasts a living and dining room on the first floor, offices, a music studio and guest rooms on the second floor and bedrooms and private spaces on the top level
Superstar Bocelli has won best-selling Classical Artist four times from the World Music Awards, six BRIT awards, for Album of the Year twice, Best Selling Classical Album and Outstanding Contribution to Music and a Golden Globe for The Prayer in 1999 which he sang alongside Celine Dion.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in his home country he has been made Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
On Easter Sunday Bocelli’s Music for Hope concert from inside the empty Duomo cathedral in Milan broke the YouTube record for the most watched classical livestream ever.
Bocelli’s performance, which opened with Panis Angelicus as images of empty streets in two COVID hit Italian cities were shown on screen, ended with Amazing Grace sung outside the cathedral, has attracted some 40 million viewers to date.
Bocelli revealed he survived COVID-19 in March and is pictured donating his blood plasma to researchers who are looking at effective ways to battle the illness
On Easter Sunday Bocelli’s Music for Hope concert from inside the empty Duomo cathedral in Milan broke the YouTube record for the most watched classical livestream ever
According to reports Bocelli had a run in with the taxman in Italy back in 2000 when tax authorities opened up several inquiries on Italians living in tax havens.
In 1997 Bocelli stopped paying tax in Italy and registered as a resident in tax haven Monaco.
‘For several months the tax police have been conducting checks, and I have been helping them in a dedicated and constructive fashion,’ Bocelli told Rai television at the time.
‘Up to now there have been no discrepancies,’ he added.
According to a report in the weekly newspaper Panorama in August 2000, tax authorities were checking whether Bocelli was really a resident in Monaco. It’s understood Bocelli came through the inquiry unscathed.
These days the much loved singer is back living in his home country Italy.