The taxman cometh for actor Robert Redford — but the two-time Academy Award winner is fighting the nearly $1.6 million bill in court, claiming it violates his constitutional rights.
Redford was slapped with the whopping fee from the New York State Department of Taxation in May for the sale of his ownership in the Sundance Channel in 2005.
But the Utah resident is balking at the bill because the state constitution says he only has to pay income taxes on “intangible personal property” in his home state.
That property includes the Sundance Channel, which is a limited liability corporation, the suit says.
Although the channel is headquartered in New York, Redford’s corporation, Sundance T.V. Inc., which owns a share in the cable television station, “paid its business expenses and maintained its books and records, all from its out-of-state location,” the Albany County Supreme Court suit says.
The “Butch Cassidy” star’s company does not have an office, property or employees in New York, according to court papers.
The suit does not reveal how much Redford made in the sale, but it does say that his take from the transaction was reported on his 2005 nonresident income tax return.
Redford is worth an estimated $170 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. He owns a ranch in Utah and two more homes in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Napa Valley, California.
The Department of Taxation did not return a call for comment.