David Allan Coe on probation while continuing to pay IRS

“Outlaw” country singer David Allan Coe is now a convicted felon. The singer has been ordered to pay the IRS more than $980,000 after pleading guilty to tax evasion and failing to pay $466,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties, prosecutors said. Coe, 76, was also sentenced Monday in Cincinnati federal court to three years’ probation.

The singer pleaded guilty last year to one count of impeding and obstructing administration of tax laws. Coe — who cultivated a rabid fan following as one the leading voices of the outlaw country scene of the ‘70s — put out string of hits like “Mona Lisa’s Lost Her Smile,” “Now I Lay Me Down to Cheat” and “Jack Daniels If You Please.”

Federal prosecutors said the singer played more than 100 concerts a year between 2008 and 2013, but asked to be paid in cash to avoid paying Uncle Sam. 

Coe wouldn’t take $50 bills, however, because “he believed they were bad luck and would not gamble with them,” according to the tax agency.

“Mr. Coe chose to impede and obstruct the due administration of the IRS in an effort to brush aside his duty to file and pay taxes and is now a convicted felon,” said Kathy Enstrom, IRS Special Agent in Charge.

Coe attorney Michael Stengel says the judge noted Coe already has been repaying the IRS. 

Source: NY POST