Britney Spears is back in a legal standoff—this time with the IRS—over what federal officials say is a more than $600,000 tax bill tied to her 2021 income.
According to newly filed court documents obtained by TMZ, the IRS issued Spears a Notice of Deficiency claiming she underpaid her taxes for that year.
Spears, however, is pushing back hard, insisting the numbers are wrong across the board. In her legal response, Spears disputes the entire claim and says she does not owe the government “so much as a dime.”
The filing argues that the IRS made multiple errors in reviewing her return, including a significant adjustment tied to Shiloh Standing Inc., a company reportedly created by her father, Jamie Spears, shortly after her conservatorship was established.
Spears claims the IRS incorrectly recalculated her share of the company's income by $1,390,922. She also alleges mistakes in how her deductions were handled, saying the agency improperly adjusted her claimed deductions by $334,372.
On top of that, she is challenging an additional penalty of $120,143.80 that the IRS included as part of the alleged underpayment.
In the petition, Spears maintains that she paid what she owed for 2021 and has documentation to support her position. She is asking the court to rule that there is no deficiency in her original tax filing and to reject the IRS’s claim formally.
While the dispute is unfolding now, this isn’t the first time Spears has found herself dealing with tax-related issues. Back in 2013, according to the State Journal-Register, she and her then-ex-husband, Kevin Federline, were hit with a tax lien from the California Franchise Tax Board totaling $37,712.71. The debt stemmed from unpaid state income taxes dating back to 2004.
That year happened to be one of the busiest—and most profitable—of Spears’ career. In 2004, she released her first fragrance, Curious, dropped a greatest hits album, and put out her cover of Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative.”
She also launched the Onyx Hotel Tour in support of In the Zone. Federline had earnings of his own during that period, including a role in the dance film You Got Served.
At the time, Spears’ representative said the California tax lien was the result of an error and would be resolved.