Lil Wayne Owes $1.5 Mil in Taxes

After gaining the attention of fans earlier this week with a heart felt letter from behind bars, incarcerated New Orleans rapper Lil' Wayne is making headlines in a less favorable way.

Apparently the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is after Lil' Wayne’s fortunes, seeking over $1.13 million dollars in back taxes for the years 2004, 2005 and 2007.

The IRS filed and a lien against his One Family Foundation this past June in Dade County Florida courts, as the lien maintains the same address as his charitable organization.

This is the second tax lien filed against Wayne in the last 2 years as in 2008 he paid off a tax debt of $977,840

Representatives for Lil' Wayne could not be reached for comments at the time of press release.

Multiple sources confirmed with AllHipHop.com that the IRS has a special unit that tails and tracks the artists, as one of the methods used to keep a tab on their earnings.

The “issue management team” was formed in 2007 and its goal is to get unclaimed tax money from athletes and entertainers in the United States and foreigners who come to tour the country.

“A few years ago, they concluded that athlete and entertainer taxes might be escaping their radar. So they reinstated a division to only deal with this area,” said Bill Zysblat of the global touring/accounting company RZO Productions.

A number of rappers have fallen into tax troubles since 2007.

Artists and executives like Suge Knight ($6 million), Nas ($3 million), DMX ($1.5 million), Lil Wayne ($1 million), Swizz Beatz ($645,000), Snoop Dogg ($598,000), Fat Joe ($140,000),  Method Man ($40,000) and numerous others have had to account to the IRS in the past year alone.

A source told AllHipHop.com that in the pursuit of the tax dollars, a variety of artists have landed in trouble for other infractions, such as gun possession and a variety of drug charges.

The IRS is also investigating a number of record labels and artists, who ran money through their non-profits for commercial gains.