Another day, another report of a Teen Mom star not paying their taxes…
This time, it’s Teen Mom 2 star Leah Messer who reportedly owes Uncle Sam a large chunk of cash. On Friday, The Sun reported that Leah is in tax debt for over $155,000, with $31,000 of that amount coming in the form of a state tax lien that Leah received this summer.
A court clerk confirmed to The Sun that Leah has yet to pay off the state lien, or the $123,841 federal tax lien she received in July 2019.
That same month, Leah opened up on Kail Lowry‘s Coffee Convos podcast about her finances, stating that, in the past, she was too quick to loan money to needy friends and family.
“I would cut my own throat to hand money over to other people,” Leah said.
Leah said her decision to help friends and family in the past was influenced by her not wanting the show or the money she received from the show “to dictate who I am.” She even blamed her past generosity for her 2015 divorce from Jeremy Calvert.
“I always want people to know I’m still that humble person and I felt [that] giving to everyone, I would get in return … but in the end it still hurt me,” she said. “It hurt me, like, it caused one of my divorces, with Jeremy, because I would be giving to everyone. I gave my dad $40,000, just to keep my dad around … .”
Leah also spoke about footing the bill for family to “have cars and houses and this and that.”
Leah is certainly not the first ‘Teen Mom’ star to find herself in tax trouble. In June of this year, former ‘Teen Mom 2’ stars Jenelle Evans and David Eason received a state tax lien of over $46,000 for the tax year of 2017.
In 2019, Teen Mom OG stars Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra were slapped with back-to-back federal liens. In November of that year, they were hit with a lien for the amount of $535,010 (for the tax years of 2016 and 2017). The pair received the second federal tax lien the following month (for the tax year of 2018) in the amount of $321,789. (For those of you who come from schools that “are not well,” that brings their total to $856,800!)
Other ‘Teen Mom’ stars who have run into trouble with Uncle Sam include Amber Portwood, who received a federal tax lien for $134,919 in 2016, and Maci Bookout, who has also been chased down by the IRS multiple times since she started on ‘Teen Mom.’ In 2013, she was hit with a lien of $78,308, only to receive another lien in 2015 for $5,249 and a third in 2017 for $12,569.
In 2018, Maci’s ex Ryan Edwards reportedly owed $119,416 to the IRS.
Leah has yet to comment publicly about her tax issues.
RELATED STORY: Tax Trouble! Former ‘Teen Mom 2’ Star Jenelle Evans Hit with $46K Tax Lien
(Photos: MTV)
38 Responses
At this point, these girls have been at this for approximately 10 years. How do they not know they have to pay taxes? As Leah would say, the schools aren’t well down there!
How do you just not pay taxes? Do these girls really just not “know” about taxes or do they think they’ll not pay and get away with it? I seriously just don’t get it. Especially when you make as much money as they do. The first thing on my mind would be taking care of taxes and the like. I’m what I’d call middle class, but barely and if I didn’t pay my taxes I’d be paranoid AF about the repercussions. If they were smart they would get a financial advisor and learn to budget so they wouldn’t be stuck/dependent to MTV for life- instead of taking trips, buying whatever they felt like, getting new cars every other month and for that matter new houses (cough, Kail). It’s crazy to me that they could owe THIS much (Especially Tyler and Caitlynn- good lord!), let alone anything- they should have paid it or figured out how much they’d have to pay, first thing!
These women all run businesses, and have publicist, employees,real estate agent, business accounts and a team of lawyers. Kailyn has 6 lawyers. I fail to believe these women didnt know they needed accountants. The taxes probably are from social media deals like from clickbait and tummy tea ads and they didnt report the income to the IRS. If thats the case then they simply didnt want to pay and were trying to get paid under the table type income.
I dont understand why it is difficult to hire someone to do your taxes for you. I pay $100 every year to save myself mistakes, fees, and a headache. I certainly don’t make $400k a year like these girls. They will owe the IRS a lot of money in IRS fees.
Leah can’t hire someone to do her taxes for her but can hire someone to give her witch nails every week. Priorities….
Whats wrong with these STUPID Teen Moms not paying their taxes, just young n Dumm thinking they wouldn’t ever have to pay!!
Maybe she should stop taking vacations evey other month with her sister who I’m sure she is footing the bill for. Plus now she is sponsoring her sisters baby daddy and if that goes through it’s only going to add to her problems I’m sure. I mean she did join that cult like organization which also costs a small fortune for every different level she went through. Just the fact that she joined that organization tells me that she is not a very savvy person and is someone who is easily influenced. I’ve heard people talk about how great they think Leah is and how far she has come but I don’t agree. I think that she is an idiot most of the time.
its not up to mtv to get them help or an adviser its their job or their parents that thinking that its mtv job is whats wrong with peoplw
MTV was kinda wrong for giving these girls all that money with no financial advisor…almost all of those girls grew up below middle class and wouldn’t know the 1st thing about paying taxes…but Catelynn and Tyler, they seriously need to just file for bankruptcy…over 800k is a SHIT TON of money to owe the IRS.
Filing for bankruptcy won’t solve anyone’s IRS problems because the IRS is exempt from writing off bad credit. In other words, they will owe until they either pay or die. IRS doesn’t play games with anyone.
And when you die they come after your estate. They can freeze your bank acct. til they get paid.
Excuse me but low and middle class people to file and pay taxes. Everyone that makes over $1,500 files taxes so ot doesnt matter of they make $2000 a yr or 2 millions. The basic fact is they are legally supposed to file. The MTV contract im sure say that they are responsible for filing and paying their own taxes like all contractir contracts say. That would have been the first clue. These women just didnt want to pay their taxes PERIOD. Every house and car they financed required them to sumbit tax paperwork and these women stay buying mansions and luxury vehicles. They paid the IRS what they wanted to pay and kept the rest of their money just like all tax cheats.
I think the schools they went to were “not well” either, they are not too bright! WHO buys a house, never having been inside, or seen the inside, over the phone??
I get that when the show started all these girls were young and dumb, but when they found out they’re going to be making more money than their entire families none of them thought “Hey, I don’t know anything about how to handle money, maybe I should hire someone who does.”? It’s amazing that none of them thought to hire an accountant or a financial advisor.
MTV needs to have them take a personal finance class before signing their contracts each year. Do they never learn from their castmates going through this?
MTV doesn’t hire them because they are smart people, they hire them because they make bad decisions. This = good TV.
stay lit and stupid
Man, pay your damn taxes!!!
I can understand in the beginning when they were young and most came from families that weren’t the smartest or well off. But shouldn’t they have been told what money they were getting and that taxes still apply? How does it get to be that much money?
This is what happens when ignorant people are given too much money. I like Leah she seems like a nice person, but I saw this coming from a million miles away, it’s sad, I hope she gets it together, but I definitely see her going the wat of Jenelle, Amber, Ty and possibly Kail, in being completely broke and in debt in five years because Mtv made them think the gravy train would never end.
Is this why the sponsorship for her slore sisters new baby daddy didn’t go through?
Her sisters baby daddy probably isn’t here because most borders are still closed from Covid.
That didn’t go thru, I didn’t know that so does that mean he just can’t come here now.
This is just getting pathetic. MTV needs to start pushing a new informational website itsyourtaxesdumbasses.com
Reality shows often have budget for what is supposedly talent support, but is usually spent entirely on producers or mental health experts who are functionally employed to stir the pot for drama while keeping things from boiling over in a way that could cause a liability issue. If they even hired one consultant who does lifeskills coaching and helps with traditional HR stuff, it would save these people a lot of pain. Or in the case of Teen Mom, even a preferred vendor for tax services seems like it would have been a huge help. I always thought it would be hilarious if Chelsea developed a brand relationship with HR Block or something. It would be deliciously petty and honestly effective targeted marketing.
Hi you girls need to get accounts to show you how to hald your finance and help you with your Texas because you girls are young and your Children should have their college paid for
How are these fools going to pay their liens? Cate snd Tyler owe almost 1M! MTV isn’t going to pay that much off..
Well they have all those rehabs to payoff… maybe they thought they were tax deductible????♀️?
Honestly, in the case of Leah and Catelynn, that might be one of the things that got them into tax trouble. “Recovery influencer marketing” is a real thing and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were receiving services in exchange for brand ambassadorship in ways they didn’t realize were taxable income.
Jesus God Leah!
You called lol.
Theres a pattern with all Leahs problems. Leah is always the victim. The end.
I bet her mom and sister took advantage of her the most .
Kailyn also had a tax lien.
All that income but not enough sense to hire an accountant…. you can take the girl out of the trailer park..
Just wondering…are they trying to make a deal with the IRS where they will accept less? Or are they just that stupid?
They need to get in touch with Ronnie Deutsch. She can solve your IRS tax problems for only $20.
$20.
I’m dead (LMAO)
How do they get away with this? People who have money to buy cars and houses for their families have money to pay their taxes! My 78 year old mother, was threatened repeatedly for $118 while in the hospital recovering from a heart attack! She didn’t even know she owed anything because she was in the hospital. The IRS didn’t care!
You should have been “generous” to the IRS and paid what you owed from the beginning.