On Monday, a report emerged indicating that Floyd Mayweather currently owes the IRS a large amount of money due to a lingering tax liability from back in 2015. According to that report, Mayweather has filed a petition in a tax court asking for a reprieve from making any payments to the IRS until after he fights Conor McGregor on Aug. 26, at which time he will have more than enough money to pay Uncle Sam back. The report made it seem like Mayweather would need to liquidate some of his assets in order to pay the IRS right now, which wouldn’t make sense when he can pay them in cash following his fight with McGregor.
Mayweather’s lawyer Jeffrey Morse did a lengthy interview with Fight Hype shortly after the IRS report came out, and he attempted to explain why Mayweather has a tax liability dating back to 2015. According to him, Mayweather "always pays his taxes," but he also takes advantage of certain regulations that "allow taxpayers to defer their tax liability in certain circumstances." Morse argued that Mayweather isn’t putting off paying his tax liability because he can’t pay it, but rather, he’s putting it off because the IRS allows it and it allows Mayweather the chance to make more on the money he’s earned by investing it elsewhere instead of simply handing it right over to the IRS. There are people who are skeptical about whether or not that’s actually the case, but you can read Morse’s interview here to get his side of things or listen to his interview below to hear him explain the situation.
Very early Tuesday morning, Mayweather himself also responded to the IRS report by taking to his Instagram account to reveal that he paid $26 million in taxes back in 2015. He told his followers to "believe half of what you see and none of what you hear, especially when it comes to the media in this country," and he also made it seem as though he doesn’t have any issues with the IRS from back in 2015. It appears to be a slightly different story than the one his tax lawyer told, but it’s clear Mayweather isn't going to lose any sleep over the stories about him that have been circulating over the last 24 hours:
In addition to putting up that post on Instagram, Mayweather did an interview with Fight Hype from his private jet early Tuesday and said that Donald Trump and Bill Gates are the only ones allowed to question his money. He talked about it at around the 2:10 mark of this clip:
McGregor weighed in on the situation late Monday as well, and he, of course, used the IRS report to help add fuel to the fire as far as the upcoming Mayweather/McGregor fight is concerned. McGregor was spotted shopping on Rodeo Drive, and the paparazzi asked him to respond to the report about his opponent. And McGregor was more than happy to use it to take a couple shots at Mayweather.
"That’s gotta sting," he said. "He shoulda paid his taxes and stayed retired and kept my name out of his mouth."
It’s hard to tell what the truth is here, but if nothing else, all of this chatter about the IRS and deferred tax payments should make the Mayweather/McGregor press conference on Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles even more interesting than it was already going to be. Look for McGregor to try and use it to his advantage during the war of words that’s sure to ensue, and look for Mayweather to try and use it to remind everyone that he’s got way more zeroes in his bank account than McGregor does. It should be…something.
